The Next Step
by pelori
Summary: Jared encounters a new faerie after Mulgarath has been defeated, one perhaps darker than the ones encountered in the past. Is this new faerie friend or foe? Jared learns a bit more about magic than he bargained for. What is the next step for the Graces?
1. The Beginning

It had been months since Mulgarath had been destroyed, and all was calm at the Spiderwick mansion. The Grace family had finally settled down, and repairs on the house were coming along nicely. Everything was peaceful. And Jared Grace was bored out of his mind.

School had just started, and he hated his teachers (and classes, of course) and couldn't seem to find a break with his classmates. Sure, at least he wasn't pegged as a "geek" like Simon, and given grief about it, but at least Simon had other geek friends to hang out with. Who did Jared have? No one. Okay, he hung with some of the skater guys in homeroom, and the popular crowd had deemed him worthy to eat with at lunch, but they weren't "friends". All social interactions ceased the moment Jared exited the school campus.

Maybe it was because he had a bit of a temper, so no one stayed around him long. Or, maybe no one asked him to hang out after school because his temper, more often than not, managed to land him in detention. Or maybe people were just too creeped out by the old Spiderwick mansion to come stay at his house.

But all the different reasons didn't matter. Not really. The point was, it was a weekend, Jared was bored, and he had no friends.

"Hey, Mallory," he called out as she walked past his room, "where are you going, all dressed up like that?"

Mallory, Jared's older sister, stuck her head in the door long enough to say, "It's Friday night, you idiot, and _I've_ got a date!"

Jared just hmphed, and blew the hair off of his forehead in response, as Mallory headed down the stairs, and out the front door.

"Maybe I need a haircut," he mumbled as he walked down the steps from his room to the kitchen. "Hey Mom," he called, "do you think I need a—"

"Not right now, honey," she said breathlessly as she raced through the room, grabbing her briefcase and keys on her way to the door. She paused at the threshold, kissed Jared on the top of the head, and said, "Honey, I have a meeting to go to, Mal's on her date, and your brother's at his 'nature club' thing. Can you be in charge until I get back?"

"Who'm I supposed to be in charge of? Thimbletack?!"

"There's a good dear, just…don't break anything 'til I come home, 'kay?" Helen said distractedly.

And then she was gone too, leaving a very bored, lonely, and angry Jared behind.

* * *

The small faerie cowered before the being in front of her.

"You try my patience! I am speaking plainly! I will ask once again, answer me now, sprite. Is this, or is it not, the territory of the ogre Mulgarath?"

The small pink sprite trembled, certain of its imminent doom.

"Oh, for the gods! I am not going to eat you, sprite! Just answer the question!"

"Really?" a small voice questioned.

"Really. What, did you think I was going to do with you? I simply had a question, approached you, the nearest faerie, and expected _some_ sort of answer! It is not that hard!"

"Well, you are quite scary," the sprite said, in the soft, flowery way that sprite's do.

"Yes, well, moving on. I have no desire to—scratch that. I _will not_ harm you. Given all the trouble you've given me, I'm afraid you've riled my temper."

The small faerie jumped, and squeaked, "This used to be Mulgarath's territory, but he is gone now, and no one rules here. Well, maybe the children with the book, but no—"

But at that very moment, the creature in front of the sprite sneezed, scaring the sprite into immediate flight, preventing further inquiry of Mulgarath, and a certain book.

"I suppose the next stop, if Mulgarath is no more, is to visit these children, and inquire what book they might have, to make a faerie think they may take the ogre's place."

With those parting words, the new creature continued its venture through the forest, a dark stain in a sea of green, just as Mallory was getting in her date's car, and Helen was driving off towards her meeting, leaving Jared home alone.


	2. Jared's Anger

_Author's note: Sorry this update took so long! I didn't have a computer available! And I know that this chapter is short, the the next one is forthcoming, I promise!_

_Reviews are always appreciated and considered constructive, whether they be positive or negitive!_

* * *

"Stupid Mallory, off on her stupid date!" Jared Grace stormed through the forest outside the Spiderwick mansion he now called home. With each shout of "stupid," he kicked the nearest piece of forest matter, in an attempt to release some of his anger.

"Stupid Mom at her _stupid_ meeting!" His foot made impact with a pile of old leaves, and several disturbed sprites emerged, muttering obscenities at him as they flew away from the irate human.

"Stupid faeries!" He yelled after them.

With Mulgarath gone, faerie sightings had become much more frequent for the Grace children. Simon and Mallory didn't seem to mind, but Jared certainly did. Normally, he liked catching glimpses of the fantastical realm; the problem was, most of the creatures from said world seemed to _want_ something from him. _What does the book say about this? What do you think about that? I have this problem with a human down the way…_

It was always the same, like they wanted the human boy to be the almighty problem-solver, or something, and he hated it! Yes, he had read the field guide, so many times that he had practically memorized it, and yes, he was now learning enough about the fantastical realm on his own that he was able to add his own observation pages to the book…in fact, if he had been thinking clearly, he may have realized that he knew more about faeries than possibly any other being in his part of the world.

However, in Jared's anger-warped mind, what he deemed the neediness of faerie-kind just added fuel to the fire of his ire.

"Stupid _faeries!_" he yelled again, as he began running deep into the forest. He had no direction. His motion was fueled by his anger and confusion with his newfound feelings of abandonment and loneliness.

"Stupid _Mom_!" He hadn't noticed when the tears had begun to well up at the corners of his eyes.

"Stupid _Simon!"_ He also hadn't noticed the darkening of the skies, as the sun began to finish its descent into the horizon.

"Stupid _Ma_—" But just before Jared could finish abusing his sister's name, he collided with an object, rising up out of the darkness of the forest floor, almost invisible in the failing light. Both Jared and the thing hit the ground rolling with momentum from their impact, until the contact Jared's head made with a nearby tree effectively ceased all forward motion, trapping the cause of Jared's tumble beneath him as the slipped into the blackness of unconsciousness.


	3. A Strange Encounter

_Author's Note:_ _I told you I would have the next chapter up soon! Two chapters in one day! How 'bout _them_ apples?_

_Anyway, as always, please read and review. Any and all comments are welcome. _

_Also, I know the story is a bit slow right now, but it is about to pick up, I promise!_

* * *

The full moon was secure in her orbit over the night sky, her light illuminating the forest beneath her, and the sun had long since disappeared behind the Earth when movement below him roused Jared into wakefulness.

He groaned, and began rubbing the sore spot on his head when he noticed the warm and comfortable thing, upon which had had been laying, was an _alive_ thing, and he had best get off of it.

Jared quickly began backing off the creature on all fours, when his eyes met a pair of bright green orbs, uncomfortably close to his own.

Was it a human? Or some unknown faerie? Either way, its gaze was unnerving, and Jared quite suddenly and quickly resumed his backward crawl, rapidly trying to get away from the creature, while still maintaining eye contact, while he back himself into a sitting position against a tree not two meters from the figure.

As he stilled his movement (not that he could go anywhere with the giant tree at his back), he began examining the creature in front of him, and quickly realized that _it _was actually a _she_. Jared blushed and hurriedly averted his eyes, so that they were once again looking at her face, to find that she, too, had been examining him.

She was wearing a dark cloak that blended perfectly with the forest around them, which was probably why Jared had accidentally plowed into her. Her hood covered her head, and the moon only provided enough light that Jared could make out humanlike feature, and her bright green eyes. She _could_ be an elf, but Jared didn't think that an elf would be clumsy enough to be caught in an impact with a fuming human.

And what if she was just a human girl? As much as he disliked the prospect, he would almost prefer it if she turned out to be an elf. The only girl Jared had any contact with at all was Mallory, and he thought she didn't really count.

The dark-clad girl just sat there, refusing to initiate contact. Jared couldn't take the silence, he just _had_ to say _something!_

"What are you doing here?" he demanded

Perhaps that was not the most polite thing to say (nor the most polite way to say it) to someone you just bowled over, human or faerie, but Jared's anger had not receded entirely.

The green eyes contemplated him for a moment, before a strange, accented voice replied, "I am sorry. I do not know where here is."

"_Here_ is in the _forest_," Jared said contemptuously. How could she seriously not know where she was?

"Yes," she replied evenly, "I suppose it is. In that case, I do not know where everything else is." Jared's sarcasm bounced off the strange girl and hit him somewhere in the middle of his forehead.

"So you're lost," Jared clarified.

"Quite," was the reply. "After wandering about the forest for some time, I suddenly realized that I was very tired, and I had no idea where the rest of the world was, outside the forest, of course. So, I lay down to sleep.

"I only roused when I heard someone yelling and running in my direction. That, I believe, was when there was a large impact, and I fell unconscious."

"Oh," Jared said guiltily. "Oops. That was me. Sorry."

"So I had assumed," the girl said, as she stood up, brushing the leaves and dirt off of her cloak.

Jared quickly followed suit, but started when he realized how tall this girl really was. She had to be at least 6'! Jared's eyes bugged as the girl, who was much larger, and thus, Jared assumed, older, than he was, continued to speak.

"Was something chasing you then? Or perhaps you were chasing after something yourself?"

Jared blushed and said, guiltily, "No, I was just angry, and trying to get away from it all, I guess."

The green eyes blinked at the downcast visage in front of her, before turning their gaze to the moon above.

"Many attempt to run away from their anger," she said, contemplatively, as Jared continued to stare at the ground before him. "But I don't believe I have ever met someone who made the attempt a literal one."

Jared allowed a ghost of a smile to cross his face before turning his eyes to follow the gaze of the strange girl in front of him.

"It is late," she stated.

Jared's eyes widened, as his brain computed what the high location of the moon meant.

"Crud!" He shouted, "Mom's gonna kill me!" He began running back towards the house, leaving the cloaked figure behind him.


	4. Helen's Side

_Author's Note: I'm baacckk!_

_Again with the apology, sorry it took so long, yadda yadda. _

_Also, FYI, I don't own Spiderwick, disclaimer, ya'll know how it goes. _

_And apparently, I didn't mention it before, but I will do so now: this story is movieverse, at least until I read the books (shame, shame, I know), so the twins are like, what, 12, 13? And I guess Mallory's a few years older? However old they were in the movie, I guess they're about six months older in this fic. _

_Happy reading!_

* * *

Mallory had just finished putting on the final touches of rouge to her cheeks, and began to hurry downstairs. What would Brad think if she was late on her first date? She just hoped he hadn't been waiting outside too long!

"Hey, Mallory," her brother, Jared, called out as she walked past his room, "where are you going, all dressed up like that?"

Where did he think? Ugh, he was such a moron! She had been talking about this date with Brad for days! _I swear, the only thing that ever enters his head is faeries!_, she thought.

She stuck her head in the door to his room long enough to say, "It's Friday night, you idiot, and _I've _got a date!"

Jared just hmphed, and blew the hair off of his forehead in response, as Mallory headed down the stairs.

"Headed out already, Hon?" Helen Grace asked her daughter as Mallory reached the door.

"Yes, Mom, and he's probably been waiting outside for twenty minutes already! I've gotta go!" Mallory reached for the door once again, in a hurry to be away from this crazy house and her crazy family.

Helen frowned.

"Shouldn't he come up to the house and knock, rather than just sitting out there in his car?"

Mallory sighed loudly, exasperated with her mother.

"Mmooom! That wouldn't be _cool_! I've _got to go_!"

"Alright, Mal. Just, try to be home before midnight, 'kay?" Helen called as her daughter ran out the door.

"Sure thing, Mom!"

Aah, there he was. Brad rolled down the window of his bright red corvette and stuck out his perfectly groomed head.

"Hey, babe," he called. "You ready?" he gave his trademark smile, and Mallory's stomach did a back-flip.

"Yeah," she replied, "Sorry I'm so late!"

She walked around to the passenger side and slipped into the leather seat as Brad started up the engine.

"Hey, no big! Now let's go have some fun!"

Mallory could barely contain her excitement as her date for the night gunned the engine and they sped off to what she hoped would be the first in a long line of dates with this high school heartthrob.

* * *

_I hope that boy treats my girl with some respect_, Helen thought, worriedly. _Then again, Mallory _does_ have a good head on her shoulders. She can take care of herself. _

Ms. Grace glanced at the great grandfather clock in the hallway. _Oh no! I'm running late again!_

As she hurried to get ready to go to her meeting, she heard her eldest son descend the stairs.

"Hey Mom," he called, "do you think I need a—"

"Not right now, honey," she called breathlessly as she raced through the room, grabbing her briefcase and keys on her way to the door. She paused at the threshold, kissed Jared on the top of the head, and said, "Honey, I have a meeting to go to, Mal's on her date, and your brother's at his 'nature club' thing. Can you be in charge until I get back?"

Helen really didn't like leaving her temperamental son at home by himself, but at this point she didn't have a choice, much to her chagrin. Jared tended to be somewhat irrational without his twin to calm him down and make him see reason.

"Who'm I supposed to be in charge of? Thimbletack?!"

Did he have to bring up those infernal faeries _again—_now where were her keys?

"There's a good dear, just…don't break anything 'til I come home, 'kay?" Helen said, distractedly.

And then she closed the door behind her, closing her son in the great mansion as she drove to the office for her meeting.

Why couldn't her kids just get along? Mallory struggled to fit in at school, even though it didn't show. Her daughter didn't really have any good friends at school; they just hung out together. They were the popular crowd, and Helen was afraid of what lengths Mallory might go to in order to fit in with them. Like this Brad character. What did Mal actually _know_ about him? 

He was just some guy who made high school girls go crazy, and so when he asked Mallory out on a date, she said "yes" without a second thought.

Helen sighed.

And Simon. She knew all the fighting in the family disturbed him. That's why he grabbed at the chance to go on this 'nature club weekend' thing. He wanted to get away from it all.

Then there was Jared. He was the one who was _always_ in detention at school, the one who _always_ fought with his sister, the one who _always_ caused problems. She loved her son terribly, but sometimes she just didn't know what to do with him!

Lately, he had even begun to wear more black, as he hung out with those skater kids at school. They were such a bad influence on her boy! But she knew she couldn't say anything. No, then Jared would just distance himself from her even more.

She wanted to blame it all on the faeries. She knew the secret her children harbored was the main reason for their isolation. However, especially in Jared's case, it was also, in a way, their salvation. It was the faeries who had brought her family together, at least for a short period of time. The faeries gave Jared purpose, and actually encouraged him to begin to study them, and take notes in the field guide. She knew Jared didn't care, but she noticed that lately his biology grade had gone up. The faeries had piqued his interest in learning.

But still, Helen rued the day she moved with her broken family into the Spiderwick mansion.

_Why can't we just be normal?_


	5. Jared's Chastisement

_Author's Note: Man, I am on a _roll_ here with these postings!_

_Alright readers, I'll try to keep 'em coming!_

_We're almost getting down to the fun stuff here!! (and of course, I mean fights and some major faerie action)_

* * *

Jared approached the front door carefully, hoping that in his silence he could creep through the house unnoticed. It was not to be, however, for as Jared quietly latched the door behind him, the hall light came on. Jared winced, and turned to face his mother.

"Kitchen," she said simply, "Now."

Jared followed his mom into the kitchen and slid down into the nearest chair, trying to look as remorseful as possible.

Helen Grace clasped her hands and lifted her eyes skyward. Jared could see that they were red, but his mother looked as though she didn't know whether to start crying or yelling at him. He didn't know which would be worse.

"Do you—" she started, before choking back what seemed to be a sob. "Do you have _any _idea what time it is?"

"Um," Jared hated questions like this. Any answer he gave would be wrong, and he would get in trouble for it. His mom was great at forming these types of questions, especially when she was angry. Jared was in for it tonight, no matter what he said. "N-no. Not really."

Wrong answer. But then again, he knew it would be.

Helen fixed her son with a stare of which any disciplining parent would be proud.

"1 o'clock, Jared." Her voice was beginning to raise in pitch and volume. "It is 1 o'clock in the morning! I got home, and the house was empty! Even Mallory managed to get in before midnight!"

She was yelling now, and upstairs Mallory put in the earplugs she had waiting beside her bed for just this reason. She knew her mother and brother well.

"I was _this close_ to calling the police! The only reason I didn't is because your _sister_ thought you might be outside, with those—those _faeries_ of yours!"

"This had nothing to do with faeries, Mom!" Now Jared raised his voice as well. He knew he shouldn't. He knew he should just let Mom have her tirade, and then take his punishment. Like Simon always told him, it's not as bad that way. But Jared did not have as much patience or self-control as his twin.

"Really?!" His mother said in mock incredulity, her palms planted on the table between her and her son, and her face red with rage. "Then what were you doing out there, for who knows how long, in the middle of the night? You didn't even leave a note!"

Jared rolled his eyes; like a note would have gotten him off the hook for this one!

"_Do not_ roll your eyes at me, young man! D-do you know how w-worried I've been?" Oh-no. Now she was back to tears again. It amazed Jared, and frightened him a little at the same time, how quickly most women, especially mothers could go from irate to weepy. They must 

figure the combination of remorse and guilt were most fitting for misbehaving children. Jared knew the guilt certainly worked on him.

"Look, Mom," he began, "I didn't leave a note because I didn't think I'd be gone this long. I just went outside for a bit and lost track of time. Before I knew it, it was dark, and I had to find my way back home." If Simon were there, he would be spotted the lie. Jared spent more time in the forest than anywhere else, and knew it like the back of his hand. No way would it take him more than an hour to get home from anywhere in the forest!

But his mother was not Simon, and there was no way Jared was going to tell her that he had been laying in the forest, unconscious, for hours. She was worried enough, and the guilt trip was working full force.

Helen gave her son a look suggesting even _she_ was not that dense. Luck was on Jared's side, though, and she finally just lowered her head and sighed, a few pieces of lanky hair falling loose around her face. She looked tired, Jared thought; maybe more tired than just one restless night would make her.

"Just go to bed, Jared," she said, sounding defeated. "I will decide your punishment tomorrow."

Jared took his escape opportunity, and quickly ran upstairs.

"You made Mom worry, jerk-face," he heard as he passed Mallory's room.

"I didn't mean to, okay? I just lost track of time!"

Mallory just gave him a look that clearly conveyed she wasn't buying it.

"Think about something, or someone, other than faeries for once, idiot," Mallory said as she rolled over, pulling the sheets over her head.

"It had nothing to do with faeries!" Jared retorted, but his sister ignored him. "Aagh! Why does everyone think it had something to do with faeries?" Jared wailed to no one in particular as he continued on to his room.

"Because it always is about faeries," Mallory muttered to herself, too low for Jared to hear.


	6. Mallory's Side

**Author's Note: **_Hey guys! So, I just finished a whole host of chapters, and I'll try to keep posting one every day or so for a while, to make up for how long I've let this story get. _

_So, I'm sure all of my fellow writers out there know what I'm talking abou when I say that a story oftentimes will write itself. Well this one certainly has. Before I knew it, I had written much more angst into this chapter than I had _ever_ planned to! But do not fear, I believe that I have regained control, and I promise that by ch. 8 (which should be up tomorrow, w00t!) there will be only enough angst to make a decent action/adventure plotline. _

_Also, this chapter may get a little confusing. It starts with Mallory's POV that happened a few chapters ago. From there, she reminesces a bit, before jumping back to real-time. I originally wrote a similar chapter for Simon. Poor Simon, he has been so left out in this story so far. However, upon rereading that chapter, I found that it was absolutely nothing but ANGST! I couldn't take it! And thus disposed of it. It was also rather redundant. Perhaps, though, if any of you want to read it, shoot me an email, and I'll send it your way. _

_Anyhoo, on with the show!_

* * *

"It had nothing to do with faeries!" Jared yelled at Mallory, but his sister ignored him. "Aagh! Why does everyone think it had something to do with faeries?" Jared wailed to no one in particular as he continued on to his room.

"Because it always is about faeries," Mallory muttered to herself, too low for Jared to hear.

Except for the disaster her date turned into. That had nothing to do with faeries. The teenage girl thought back over her night, to think about what went wrong…

* * *

Mallory was _not_ having a good time

Brad could not keep his eyes off of her chest, and she was really beginning to wish she'd worn a longer skirt. Or maybe pants.

'Dinner and a movie' tuned out to be the drive through of a burger joint, followed by the latest horror flick. The movie did prove to be slightly interesting, however, for while Mallory wasn't fond of horror films, she snickered to herself when Brad seemed surprised that she didn't shriek and grab hold of him at the scary parts. She had personally fought a horde of goblins and a shape-shifting ogre. This guy expected her to be afraid of zombies? The blood didn't even look real! But for his benefit, she simpered and told him at the end what a scary movie it was.

As the couple got back into the car, Malloy was lost deep in thought. What do other girls _see_ in him? He's supposed to be one of the most sought-after guys in the whole school, but he has no personality. He's not even that good-looking!

"Alright, babe," Mallory looked into his unintelligent brown eyes as he addressed her. They reminded her of cow eyes. "Now, let's really have some fun!"  
"What?" She asked, pondering whose eyes were more dull, Brad's, or a cow's.

"Dave…you know Dave, right? Friend of mine, on the basketball team? Anyway I heard Dave was having this awesome party at his place! I'm telling you, it's gonna be the talk of the school, come Monday morning!"

As they sped off towards Dave's, Mallory couldn't help but wonder what she was getting herself into.

Mallory opened her eyes slowly as they adjusted to the darkness of her bedroom. She should have said no right then and there. She should have _known _better than to go to a party with that crowd! She buried her face in her pillow as she remembered how awful the party had been. There was loud music blasting in her ears so loud that she couldn't hear anything Brad said to her, so when he yelled something in her ear and then walked away, she had no idea where he went. After wandering around, she quickly realized that this was a party she did not want to be at. Most of the kids were older than her, and there was a lot of drinking going on. She even thought she was a bag of pills being passed around. She had to get out of there.

It was times like these that Mallory wished her brother was with her. Jared may be violent, aggressive, and rude, but he could also get himself and his siblings out of any sort of trouble. Jared would know what to do. Mallory smile to herself as she thought about her brother's reaction at finding himself here. Her smile fell. She had seen quite a few of these kids hanging out with Jared during lunch and after school. She thought about how he had been dressing lately, and how his hair had begun to grow out so that it hung over his eyes. Her brother would _want_ to leave if someone brought him here, right? Of course, he would! Mallory laughed nervously. He would punch the lights out of the nearest person, walk outside and call a griffin or something to take him home. Right?

Well, Mallory didn't have a griffin. She didn't even have a moody little brother to beat up those two jerks in the corner who have been eyeing her and making obscene gestures. And she didn't need them! She was an expert fencer who helped defeat an evil ogre! She could—she _would_ take care of this on her own!

She caught sight of a tuft of blonde hair and dull brown eyes.

"Brad!" She yelled, and she knocked the drink out of his hand, and the joint out of his mouth. "We are over, and I am going home!"

After overcoming his shock, he just smirked and said, "Aww, is this a bit above your maturity level?"

Mallory sympathized with the way her brother must feel every time he gets ready to beat the living daylights out of someone. Maybe she wouldn't tease him about his anger issues anymore…

"No, Brad," She said calmly. She was quite impressed with herself. Her voice was steady, but if Brad knew how much red she was seeing, he would have already run. "_I _am the one who is above _your_ maturity level. Grow a brain, and maybe a personality, and then I might forgive you."

"Forgive me?" The inebriated boy laughed. "Come on, babe, I'm the one that took you out, right? I gave you a good time. You're the one that should be apologizing. I've been gypped, right, guys?"

He looked around at his buddies as they all agreed and laughed.

"Yeah, man," one added in, "She should have at least let you feel her up."  
Mallory's fist was in his face before he could start laughing at his own joke, and then her foot was in Brad's stomach before he could even realized what just happened.

"Grow up," Mallory said, as she walked out through the stationary, staring mass of partygoers, trying to keep from panting with the adrenaline rush that had just given her.

On the way out, she passed a skateboard in the front lawn. Well, it wasn't a griffin, but it would do.

* * *

Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table when she walked into the house an hour later, skateboard carefully stashed in the old shed.

"Mom, are you okay?"

Helen was in her night-robe, leaning over the table with her head in her hands.

"Mallory!" Ms. Grace looked up in surprise. "When did you get in? I didn't hear the car pull up."

"Well, the engine's really quiet, and it looks like you dozed off there for a minute,"

First fighting, and now lying! She had been spending _way_ too much time with her brother!

"Oh, well, how was the date?"

"It was okay. Really Mom, what's wrong? You look awful!"  
Helen sighed and got up to face her daughter.

"Jared's gone. I don't know where he is. He didn't leave a note, or anything! I don't know what's happened to him. He could be hurt somewhere and I wouldn't even know!" Helen dropped her head in her hands once again and began to cry.

"Don't worry, Mom," Mallory said, embracing Ms. Grace. "I'm sure he's just out with those faeries somewhere. You know how he is. He'll get in soon, and then you can punish him for not leaving a note, okay?"

Mallory was going to _skin_ that little _brat_ for making Mom worry this much! She was sure he was just out in the forest somewhere. It wasn't, after all, too far from the truth.

Helen was slowly going from despondent to furious. "I can't believe him! I know he isn't responsible without his brother around to remind him, but honestly! What crosses his mind when he does these things?"

She walked back to the chair and sat down.

"Go to bed, honey, you look tired. I'll wait up for your brother."

"Alright, Mom," Mallory said as she drug herself up the stairs. Trust her stupid brother to make this night worse than it already was!

As she got into bed, Mallory made sure to leave her earplugs next to her pillow. She would need them for the yelling match to come when her brother got home.

* * *

Mallory managed to dose off as she mentally reviewed the evening in her head.

Jared also managed to nod off fairly quickly, despite the hours of unconsciousness from which he had only recently awoken.

Even Simon, after a serious mental conversation with himself went to sleep on his cot, miles away at a nature camp.

But Ms. Grace couldn't sleep. She was too concerned about her family.

And the girl Jared had run into couldn't sleep. She still hadn't found her way, and the tree against which she had chosen to sleep was digging into her back. She hoped that boy would come back tomorrow. He was interesting, and he might be able to give her some information. Like where to find a place with a _real_ bed!

**Author's Note:** _Oh man, I'm posting AN's all over the place here. Sorry 'bout that. I'll try to be more concise and less verbose. Anyway, does anyone know what the Grace kids' eye colors are? In the book, I mean? I've read them, but do not own them, and have forgotten whether or not it is mentioned. _

_Be on the lookout tomorrow for the next chapter!_

_**Any **reviews, be they FLAMES or otherwise are welcome!_


	7. Jared's Choice

**Author's Note:** _I told you I'd have another post up today!_

_Here's your disclaimer: I am poor. Thus, I am not Holly Black. Thus, I do not own Spiderwick._

* * *

Jared was standing next to the strange girl from the night before. She still towered over him, but she looked thinner, and paler than before.

"Why are you still here?" he asked her. Maybe she was crazier than Jared thought!

"I have nowhere else to go," she answered, her green eyes staring down into those of the boy below her.

"Go home!" Jared told her.

"I have nothing to eat," she said, much in the same manner as before.

"I can't help you!" Jared yelled, frustrated.

"I have nothing," she said, her tranquility and paleness a foil to Jared's trembling anger and rage-blushed-red face.

She leaned forward and reached her hand out to him, as he began to fade backwards into the dark. He could do nothing but listen; "Do I have you?" her voice faded away.

* * *

"Wake up, Jared!"

Jared shot straight up in bed, panting, his sweaty sheets stuck to his legs.

"Jared!" His mother called again, "you better be up, and on your way to the kitchen!"  
"I'm up already!" he hollered back.

"What kind of dream was that?" Jared asked himself as he pulled on his clothes and headed down the stairs.

"Maybe it was just a guilty conscience…Yes, that must be it! I mean, I did just leave her there after I knocked her over," He paused. "And she did say she was lost…"

Some introspection was in order here, and in all the rapidity inherent only in youth, Jared came to a conclusion: "I am a horrible person," he said, in a monotone voice.

"Don't think that'll work as an apology!" Helen said, as she stuck her head through the kitchen door, to the landing where Jared was standing and contemplating his actions.

"Huh?" Jared pulled his mind back to reality. "What apology?"

"You are planning to apologize, I hope?" She responded.

At Jared's blank face, she just shook her head, waving her hands and said, "Never mind. Sit down, here."

Her son did as he was told, and looked up at his mother, expecting another tongue lashing, following last night's ventures. He did not expect the long silence that was to follow.

Helen stared at her son, searching his face for the answer to an unknown question, forming in her mind.

After enough time to make Jared thoroughly confused and uncomfortable, Helen spoke.

"I am going to give you another chance, Jared. I think maybe, if I trust you a little more, you might respect me a little more, and respect my rules."

The young brunette was not prepared for this. He didn't know what to say! Did his mother expect him to agree? To apologize? To remain quiet?

Turns out Door #3 yielded the prize, because Helen began to speak, yet again.

"This is your chance, Jared; your last one. I am taking your sister on a long needed shopping trip. We'll be gone for the whole day," She let this soak in for a moment, before beginning again.

"I have a short list of tasks for you, there on the table. Other than that, you're free to do what you want."

Ms. Grace let another one of those silences stretch, but Jared managed to remain still and quiet, chanting in his head, "Be like Simon, be like Simon. She won't get mad, if I can be like Simon." His efforts were rewarded.

She sighed, and said, "I thought a lot last night, Jared. I understand your fascination with faeries. I understand I can't ever tear you away from them—"

"No, Mom—"

But Helen held up her hand, stopping him from finishing his protest.

She took a deep breath.

"You have been a part o f that world ever since that goblin gave you the sight."

"Hobgoblin, Mom," Jared corrected, automatically.

His mother smiled knowingly, and dejectedly.

"Yes, hobgoblin," She acknowledged, smiling almost sadly. "So, I won't yell at you anymore about faeries, alright? Just promise me something, Jared"

"What?" he asked.

Jared didn't know what he could have possibly done to merit this Get Out of Jail Free card, but he was willing to do whatever it took to make sure he did not lose this chance.

"Just try to keep your brother out of it."

Helen almost hated herself for saying this, but it had to be done. She had not slept even an hour last night, for worrying about her children, especially her two sons. In the end, she concluded that she had lost Jared to that wonderful, horrible world called the Fantastical Realm. His only friends were not human, he wrote in the Field Guide rather than on his homework, and he spent more time speaking with magical creatures than with most of his family.

But Simon was a different story. Simon had friends. He was on a retreat with them right now. He was doing well in school, and he spent most of his time, either with his numerous pets, or with his mother and sister. Simon was not like Jared, Helen thought. She had not lost Simon, yet, and she did not intend to. The problem was that Jared always tried to pull his brother along for the Fantastical World adventures he had daily. Whether it was to see the new baby sprite, to listen to one of the hobgoblin stories, or to offer up an opinion on the new species he had found and documented. Simon must not be pulled into that world. She hoped her decision would not hurt her sons as much as it was hurting her.

"What?" Jared asked, hurt, rather than confused.

"I want your brother to live a normal life, and I know that you will want to involve him in the Fantastical World as much as possible. I am asking you, in exchange for your freedom with faeries, for you to keep Simon away from all things magical. You can still spend time with him; as much time as you want, but not in the Fantastical Realm."

All Jared could do was to stare at his mother. What was she playing at? Why was she doing this?

"Alright, honey?" Helen asked for confirmation.

And then, Jared made a decision that would affect him, and his brother, for the rest of his life.

"All right, Mom," he conceded. "I'll keep Simon out of it."

Ms. Grace smiled, relieved. She knew how hard this would be for Jared. But as long as he steered Simon away from the Fantastical World, and she kept her quietest son unaware of the new turn of events, everything would be fine.

"Thank you, Jared," She said, standing up from the table. "Your sister's in the car, waiting for me. There's some food in the fridge for lunch. We should be home around eight. Be good, okay?"

"Okay, Mom" Jared said, as he watched her leave, reminding him of how he left the girl in his dream. What would happen to her?

Jared looked in the fridge, rifling through its contents.

"Food for lunch, huh?" He said to himself, as he collected an assortment of provisions, and placed them in the largest basket he could find. "I wonder if she likes tuna?" He muttered to himself, as he piled high the food in the basket, preparing for what would most certainly be a Fantastical meeting.

**Author's Note: **_So what do you all think? Helen has surrended one of her children to the 'cluthces' of the faeries. Lolz. _

_Anyway, the next chapter will be up either tomorrow or the next day._

_Also, check out those new chapter titles, hey hey!_


	8. The Meeting

_Author's Note: Here's the_ _latest installment. It seems kinda draggy to me. Please read and review to tell me what you think! I was using a public computer when I wrote this, and to drown out all the sound around me, I plugged in some New Age Meditation music. I think, rather than inspiring me, it just made my writing dull. Anyway, here's your disclaimer: I disclaim these characters and whatnot. _

_Also, I am not getting many reviews over the past few chapters. If you don't review, I don't know how to improve! Are the chapters too long? Too short? Do you want me to include more about the rest of the Grace family? _

_Also, don't worry about the new character. I know that _technically_ she's and OC, but I promise, the story is about _Jared_, not her. She just exists as a means to further the original Spiderwick plot. So for those of you who, like myself, HATE Mary Sues, rest assured, this character is not one. I even hesitated to give her a name for this very reason, but there are only so many ways, as an author, that I can say "That girl"_

_Happy Reading!!_

* * *

Jared ran through the forest, clutching the bag of food close to his chest, as he tried to remember where he may have left the girl the night before. Would she still be there? Would she be mad at him for leaving? As he pondered these things, he could not help but think of the most pressing question: was she human?

His feet slowed as he approached a small clearing. _I know I ran into her soon after these trees_, he thought to himself. As he looked though the trees, walking slowly to search more clearly, he suddenly had a moment of panic. What would his mother do if she came home early, just to find he was out here again? He slowed his breathing as he thought logically, like Simon always told him to do. A clear mind makes better decisions. He did as his mom asked. He cleaned the kitchen, made sure his room was neat, and did a load of laundry. They had made a deal, after all. Jared was _allowed_ to come out to the forest now, even if he was looking for faeries. Not that he was, of course. No. The girl might be human, after all. Who was to say there was anything supernatural about the way he ran into a strange girl in the forest. Who did not know where she was. Who happened to have startling green eyes and was extremely tall.

"Don't kid yourself, Jared," the boy muttered to himself. "The question is, is she dangerous?"

"Is who dangerous?" a breathy voice near to ear asked, in a familiarly strange accent.

Jared jumped in the air in surprise as the basket of food went flying.

The tall girl moved faster than a normal being is supposed to, as she leapt into motion, launching herself into the air as she caught the bag, and fell gracefully back down to earth, without spilling a bit.

Jared was still panting from the adrenaline rush of his fright as he stared at the girl. He watched as she inspected his bag, sniffing and feeling it in a curious manner. _It's weird, _Jared thought, _but she doesn't seem quite so tall or quite as scary now as she did last night_.

"I caught your bag for you," the girl eventually remarked, holding out the parcel, clutched in a pale hand, extending from the dark cloak.

Jared looked up at her face, and noticed how pasty white her skin looked, especially in contrast to the dark hair cascading down her shoulders, free now that the hood had fallen back after her superhuman jump.

"I brought it for you," Jared said, not moving from where he stood, still cautious about this stranger in _his_ forest.

"For me?" the girl asked, sounding shocked. She did not pull back her hand, but stared at it, as it held the bag, as if it were the oddest thing she had ever seen.

Jared nodded.

The girl smiled, and Jared sucked in his breath.

"Thank you!" she said, delightedly. "A gift!" She continued to exclaim, "a gift just for me, given freely!" She sniffed at the bag some more, though her smile and ecstatic expression did not fade. "What is it?" She asked curiously.

But Jared did not respond. In fact, he seemed rather frozen, still holding the breath he had taken in when the girl first bared her teeth in a perfect smile. Though "teeth" was perhaps the wrong word, as Jared worked to process what he saw in front of him. For instead of a row of pearly whites, this girl was sporting a mouthful of jagged looking fangs. Her front top and bottom teeth were fairly flat, almost like a normal person's but the rest formed a jagged line of daggers in her mouth. Her canines themselves were so large, he was surprised she was able to speak around them, though perhaps that accounted for the strange accent.

"What is wrong?" She asked the boy who had brought her a gift, her smile fading.

Jared finally came to his senses.

"What _are_ you?" he choked out.

Now her smile faded completely, as she reached a pale hand up to her mouth, and moved a fingertip across one of her massive canines, leaving a small line of blood across the white tooth, over which she quickly ran her tongue, as she lowered her eyes to the earth covered floor.

"I'm sorry," she said, quietly. "I-I forgot…"

Now Jared was sure she was a faerie; but what kind? Certainly not one that he had ever seen! Should he reassure her, tell her that he knew about faeries already? No. That was out of the question. _What if she wants the book?_ Past encounters had left the young boy very wary of other creatures when it came to Spiderwick's Field Guide. Who was he to say that this girl was not just some other faerie trying to take over Mulgarath's place? _Best just to play it safe,_ he thought,_ I'll just pretend like I've never seen a faerie before_.

"So what—" Jared asked again, "what _are_ you?"

"I'm…complicated," the girl replied, her bright green eyes staring straight into Jared's. "Would you believe me when I told you that I wasn't human?" She asked, "If I told you that I was, in fact, a faerie?"  
"I think I would believe you," Jared said, wondering whether someone who had never seen a faerie before would answer in that manner.

The girl sighed in relief.

"Now, please don't run away," she asked him. "I need help. I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to talk to someone."  
"Alright," Jared agreed. Run away? Not on his life! This was a brand new species of faerie to document! A humanoid faerie that could be mistaken for a girl, if you did not know any better. Jared was already beginning to plan out his entry into the Field Guide. "So what is a…faerie…doing in the middle of this forest?" Jared's eyes widened as he remember something she said last night. "Are you really lost?" He had never met a faerie who knew so little about the forest that they could get _lost_.

"I _was_ looking for someone. But once I got here, I found out they were no longer living," she explained.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Jared said, quietly.

"Loss?" She looked at him, quizzically, "Wha— Oh!" realization dawned. "No, no! It was no loss of mine, I assure you! I was supposed to…_remove_ him from this area anyway." Jared shivered as he looked at her feral grin. He could have sworn her fangs grew just a bit more. "No," she continued, "it was after I learned this information, and had decided to, um..." she paused for a moment, "Move one, yes! As I decided that I needed to move on and return, I realized I had lost my way, and could not leave the forest.

"So," she continued, asking, "What gift did you bring me in this bag?"

It seemed her good humor had returned.

"Um," Jared was still trying to process some of this information. He was used to dealing with fantastical creatures, but this one seemed a bit too much like a human girl for his liking, "Its food. I felt bad after I got back home, and realized I left you here, lost and without food, and I felt bad, so this morning, I packed up a bunch of stuff from our fridge and pantry, and brought it out here to you."

"Food?" She asked, opening the bag. She removed a chocolate bar and proceeded to nibble on the wrapping.

"No!" Jared laughed, "You don't eat the foil! Here, let me show you."

He proceeded to expose the chocolate beneath its exterior skin, and hand the morsel back to her. "Oh! I don't think I ever got your name. Mine's Jared."

The green-eyed girl lifted to candy to her lips and looked up long enough to say, "Brana," before she bit into the chocolate.

Her eyes widened, and grin began to split her face as she rolled the bite of chocolate around on her tongue. "This is amazing!" she said, before proceeding to devour the treat.

Jared smiled at Brana's obvious enjoyment of the sugar. In fact, he was so consumed in watching her eat, he did not even notice as the leaves about them began to quiver, and numerous small beings, most resembling overgrown toads, began to circle about the young boy and girl.

* * *

_Read and Review, PLEASE!!_

_When you R&R, it also helps encourage me to write more!_


	9. The Deal

_Author's Note: Alright! Finally, another chapter! But still, so few reviews. :( Am I making too many OC's? I thought a new enemy was necessary...anyway, not to give away the plot, but I hope White Bite and the others aren't too much. And sorry for any typos! I only recently caught a few from the last chapter. I am so ashamed :x anyway, I hope to have another new chapter up within the week. Happy reading!_

* * *

The small goblin watched his prey through the break in the leaves, as he signaled his companions to form a circle around the human boy and the strange girl. He may have been small for a goblin, but he ruled his small party of goblins with an iron fist. After Red Cap had died, and Mulgarath had been defeated, what small numbers of goblins remained needed a leader; someone to give them direction and guidance. White Bite was glad to oblige them.

He was careful not to rattle the hundreds of teeth sowed onto his black coat as he motioned to his troop. Attack! Move Out! Go, go go!

The boy had caused trouble for them before, and the girl was bad news. Most of the other goblins just thought they were attacking for revenge, but White Bite had seen her kind before. Red Cap may have been obsessed with Revolutionary War clothing and souvenirs, but White Bite went for teeth. Every victim of his was left with an empty maw when he was done with them. You could say he was the original Tooth Faerie. And as such, when he heard of the amazing creatures overseas with the most magnificent teeth, he just _had _to go investigate. He was lucky to escape with his life that time, and he was not willing to allow these creatures to gain a foothold in _his_ territory! He had to strike while the iron was hot, so to speak, and catch this young female off-guard. The boy was just icing on the cake.

As the girl, Brana, finished the chocolate bar, Jared quickly moved beside her to reach into the bag of goodies to find her another one, since she seemed to enjoy it so much. The action may very well have saved his life.

Just as Brana stopped moving, as Jared was reaching her side, he felt wind against the back of his neck and heard a _whump_ into the ground where he had been standing.

"ATTACK!!" a small toad-like goblin yelled, as a hoard of creatures armed with swords and daggers charged to two humanoids.

It all happened in a matter of moments. Jared's brain began to shut down; he did not know what to do! He was not prepared for this! But as soon as the arrow pierced the ground where the boy had been standing, almost at the same time as the order to attack rang out, Brana sprang into action, sweeping the closest goblins back with a simple swipe of her hand, talons extended to cut through the thick hide.

_Talons?_ Jared thought to himself, trying to make sense of the chaos around him, _Are those her _fingernails? _Since when does she have talons-like nails?_

The faerie girl whirled around, knocking a goblin away, just as it was about to spring on Jared.

"We need to move!" she said, as she grabbed Jared's wrist.

The boy barely had a moment to process what was going on before the pale girl sprung into the air above the goblins' heads, alighting on a tree branch, Jared in tow.

"Come on, Jacob!" She cried, smacking him lightly across the face, "Focus! We need to get somewhere safe!"

"It's Jared," he said dazedly. It seemed only then that his brain managed to catch up to what had been going on. "We're being attacked!" He yelled.

"Yes, now focus, boy. We need a safe place escape from them. Is there a populated city nearby? They will cease their attack if other people are around."

"I can do you one better," Jared said, as he eyed the small goblin, seemingly covered in teeth, point to the tree in which they were hiding. "Go that way, there's a house, not a mile from here, and it's protected."

The girl with fangs did not argue as she grabbed Jared, and launched herself, with the boy, into the next tree, headed for the Spiderwick mansion and, she hoped, a sanctuary from the unexpected attack.

* * *

Amidst the bouncing from tree to tree and the severe jostling of his person, as the girl, Brana led, no _dragged_ them to safety, Jared managed to get his brain in gear long enough to realize there was a flaw in his plan. The protective mushroom circle that he, Mallory and Simon had re-grown after Mulgarath's attack kept faeries out of the Spiderwick mansion. That was great considering all the goblins on their tail. It was not so great for the faerie carrying him to safety.

But before Jared could say anything, he and the tall faerie girl were sprinting across the ground, heading across the yard, the last distance between them and the protection of the mansion.

"No, sto—" he tried to get out, before Brana lept across the last distance, crossing the mushroom circle with Jared in tow.

They both collapsed on the ground, panting. Jared watched as the goblins slowed their approach to the circle.

"Don't think you can get away from us!" the strange tooth-covered goblin yelled. "You'll have to leave that circle sometime!"

_Wow, _Jared thought, in his adrenaline-racing stupor, _this is just like when we first found the Book. _

As the goblins ran back into the forest, he heard the girl next to him breathe out sharply and sit up, rubbing her head.

"What _was_ that? It felt like I just ran through a brick wall!"

She turned to Jared.

Oh, boy. How to explain the existence of a protective magic circle and keeping up with the pretense that he had no idea what faeries were? And how in the world did she manage to get through it?

"Umm, well, my aunt was kinda crazy, and she kept insisting that faeries existed, and that we needed this circle thing to protect us from them. Guess it worked, huh?" He was lying through his teeth, but it sounded believable…more so than the truth anyway. "But if it kept those gob—um, toad-like faeries out, how come you got in?"

"Magic circle?" She repeated, bending over to poke at the nearest mushroom, then jerking her hand back as a spark raced up from the talon-sharp nail to her pasty white wrist. "That must bewhy I have such a throbbing headache. I am inherently more powerful than those creatures— goblins." She turned to Jared, trying to explain. "I just barreled through it. Like a wall. Little kids could never break down a wall, but a strong enough adult probably could. I just managed to break right through it. It is fairly primitive though. Your aunt made it?"

"Yeah. But she's uh, gone now," he said, glaring at the circle. _Primitive? That circle was the best defense they had, and she broke through it with nothing more than a _headache?! "How can we make it stronger?" She gave him a strange look. "Well, since those faerie things are really real, don't we need to make sure they can't get in like you did?"

"You want me to teach you to develop a more powerful magical defense against creatures of the Fantastical Realm?" she clarified, scrutinizing his reply carefully.

"Yeah! Could you do that? I want to learn as much as I can about the Fantastical Realm!" That much was truth, at least.

"And what would I get in return for teaching you this magic—this power that does not belong to human?" She was still staring at him in that funny, disconcerting kind of way, like she was gauging his reaction, almost afraid, and yet curious about what he would say.

"You need a place to stay, right? And the help of a human who knows the area? I can help you with all that! I'll be like your human liaison!" _That was a great promise_, _Jared_, he thought to himself. _What if she agrees? Where do I put her? Unless of course, she could stay in Arthur's old study…_

"You must understand, Jared Grace, what I will teach you cannot be untaught."

"No going back, huh?" he laughed. That's alright. He had already gone through that with the Book. Sure, a giant ogre, several trolls and a horde of goblins came after him and his entire family, out for their blood, but what he had learned from Spiderwick's Guide to the Fantastical Realm was worth it. He was willing to do almost anything for a few lessons from an unknown fantastical creature who was able to barrel through his protective circle with nothing more than a headache. But she must not have gotten his mental message of acceptance and determination, because she just continued to stare.

"Very well, Jared Grace," the strange faerie said, extending her hand. "We have an accord."

As Jared shook the taloned hand of this strange fantastical creature, he thought back to the deal he and his mother made. It felt like he was taking yet another step away from the rest of his family, the rest of his world. But he did it willingly, with all the curiosity of an explorer, looking out new territory. What had he just agreed to?


	10. Moving In

_**Author's Note:**__I am attempting to keep up with my internal promise to update more frequently, and here you go! __**Bella-Lily-Cullen**__, thank you for your review! See people, didn't I say that the more you review, the more incentive I have to write?! Anyway, I was quite upset with how the last chapter came out—it just seemed so rushed and poorly written there at the end, so I am attempting to put more effort into _making _time to write these chapters properly. Now I must spend the next one or two chapters attempting to make up for the grammatical mess I made of the last one. _

_**Read this! **the bold part anyway_

_**And in case anyone is wondering, I know that Jared's diction is a grammatical face-palm, and that my OC girl's diction is rather…well, it is supposed to be old-fashioned and elegant. Whether it is or not is up for debate. Anyway, both of those are INTENTIONAL! I do know how to write, so any dialogue errors you see are supposed to be there for character effect! **_

_As I mentioned earlier, I have not yet read all of the books, but from those I have, I can't say that I am too very appreciative of Holly Black's style, and thus haven't really noticed and/or paid attention to the manner in which the characters speak. I can only hope that I am either doing them justice, or improving. Wow. _That_ was conceited, assuming I could improve upon the work of a professional…but whatever. Happy reading!_

_And just to clarify, Arthur's study is in the attic, right? I'm not sure at all on the structure of the house, so I just guessed. If I got something wrong, feel free to let me know. _

* * *

"Here," Jared said. "You can stay in here for now. I don't know what my mom would think of you, so it'd just be best to keep you out of sight."

After Mulgarath had destroyed the house, during the course of the renovations, Jared, Simon and Mallory had managed to convince their mother to redesign the entrance to the study, but way of a hidden door. Helen Grace never went up there, Mallory said that it was still far too old and musty for her, and even Simon's ventures to explore its wonders had been decreasing of late. Jared was sure that the girl, Brana, would be safe here from prying eyes.

"Not informing your mother of my presence in her home may be prudent, but—"

"Don't worry!" Jared cut her off. "No one uses my aunt's old room, so we can move her stuff up here! And Mom keeps saying how me and Simon are 'growing boys' and all, so I'm sure she won't notice it if I sneak food up here," Jared paused, contemplating. "What do you eat anyway?"

Jared began to walk back downstairs to his aunt's old room, to begin removing furniture before any of his family members came home and saw what he was doing.

"I believe that whatever you consume will be suitable for me," she replied. "In this respect, our physiologies do not differ too much."

Jared looked back at her as he reached the hallway outside his destination.

"How _do _our phiz—physical—"

"Physiologies," she supplied.

"Yeah, how do our phy—i—ol—o—gies, I mean, how are they different?" Jared asked.

She glanced away for a moment before replying.

"I am not quite sure," she continued looking away, not meeting Jared's eyes. "I know that I am slightly stronger and faster than the average human, as evidenced by our flight from the goblins—"

"Literally!" Jared laughed.

"What?"

"You said flight…and we were almost _flying_ through the trees…" at the faerie's confused face, he just shrugged it off. "Never mind."

"Anyway," she continued, "I believe our mentalities differ slightly. Faeries tend to be, to some extent, more animalistic and territorial than humans. We are not always bound by rational cognitive processes."

Jared paused after opening the door to the unused room.

"Hmmph," he made a contemplative kind of grunt. "So," he addressed the non-human girl behind him, "Any idea how to get a queen-sized bed and a wardrobe wider than the doorway up to attic?"

The girl meandered her way around the room, touching the wooden headboard of the old bed, scrutinizing the outside of the wardrobe, and dropping down to her knees to run a finger along the underside of the frame.

"I believe the two of us could move these with very little effort," she pronounced.

"Really?" Jared replied, running over to where his house-guest was standing, glancing between the room's doorway and the large antiquate furniture. "How are we going to do it? Shrinking spell? Teleporting?!"

Brana creased her brow again, turning her face to look down at the younger human beside her. "What?"

"You know," Jared elaborated, "What spell are we going to use to get this stuff up to the attic?"

"Spell?" Suddenly, a look of illumination crossed the girl's face, and she started to chuckle quietly to herself. "We do not require magic for this, Jared."

"Bu—" Jared's face fell, "But, why?"

"Why use magic, which difficult and energy consuming, when you could do it the easy way?" she said, as she removed the coverlet to the bed, exposing the mattress.

"Isn't magic the easy way?"

Jared moved to help her remove the mattress from the springs.

"Hardly," Brana said, as they began to remove the old clothing from the wardrobe, placing it on top the mattress, which now rested on the floor. "Magic is very difficult to learn, if you are not born possessing it. And it is not always conducive to everyday tasks such as moving a large object from one place to another. Using a supernatural power is also very taxing, especially if it is _learned_, and not natural."

After all the clothing had been removed, the girl turned back to the bed.

"See, Jared," she said, taking hold of his shoulder and steering him towards the corner of the bed, "There is almost always a simple, non-magic solution to a non-magic problem."She pointed out several wooden pegs and metal screws holding the frame together. "Do you have a screwdriver?"

"Yeah," he said, standing up and heading to the door, "It's in the—" he stopped. "The toolbox is in the shed. Which is outside of the circle. Where the goblins are waiting."

She slender faerie harumfed and turned back to the bed, gesturing for Jared to come back and join her.

"You see, now magic has come in and complicated things." She took a metal spoon out of somewhere in her black cloak, and laid it on the wooden floor between her, Jared, and the bed. "So we must use magic to solve them."

As she slowly wave her hand over the spoon, Jared's eyes widened, as there was no longer a spoon between them, but a long, metal screwdriver. He quickly looked up to the faerie.

"How did you do that?" he asked in amazement.

The girl smirked, picking up the screwdriver, and using it to begin to dismantle the bed-frame.

"What did you see?" she asked him as she worked.

"I saw a spoon that just suddenly turned into a screwdriver," he replied, still staring somewhat starry-eyed at the metal implement in his new teacher's hands.

"Really? Is that all?" She questioned. "How did it go from one to the other?"

"Well," Jared's brow wrinkled in thought and frustration, "The spoon was just sitting there, and then, when you hand was over it…"

"Yes?"

"It just sort of…_shifted_, I guess. Like all the metal suddenly decided it was in the wrong shape, and decided to move to make another," he reasoned.

"Exactly!" the cloaked faerie exclaimed, showing her fangs in a wide smile, as she moved to the other corner. "You see, with magic, you cannot simply snap your fingers, and _poof! _A screwdriver appears! It just does not work that way. I can, however, with a simple nudge, suggest to the particles that made up that spoon, that they should not be a spoon; that they should, in fact, be a screwdriver."

"But how?" Jared asked, collecting up the various screws his companion had been removing, and placing them in his pocket.

"That will come in time," she replied to her new student. "What is important, first, is to see the world around you; to really _see_ what you are missing."

It was at that moment that Jared felt a gentle tug somewhere in his chest, as his mind went to the Field Guide, and all the _seeing_ he and his siblings had done lately. Was this uncomfortable feeling, weighing him down just above his stomach, guilt? Should he tell her what she had failed to see?

As the superhuman girl went about the dismantling of the old furniture so that it could be moved into her new living space, Jared reflected over his conscience yet again. First, he made a deal with his mother to stay away from his brother and sister, his best friends in all actuality, in exchange for free reign with Fantastical Creatures. Then, he makes another deal with some strange, fanged and clawed faerie, for magic lessons in exchange for room, board, and a little bit of assistance with human interaction. Now he is lying to this girl, hiding what was perhaps the largest part of who he is, and for what? Because he does not trust her? Because he is selfish of his secret? Because he wants to be the sole owner of the Field Guide?

As the two unlikely partners finished clearing out the downstairs room, Jared made a decision. He would take a chance, a gamble, that this girl was not malevolent. He would tell her about the Guide, his uncle, and his knowledge of the Fantastical Realm. He just hoped that he was not too late.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Ooh, cliffie! Normally, I hate to leave A/N tags at the end, but this is important ya'll! I know that I tend to be a bit long-winded. It is one of the reasons I tend to excel at writing—I'm not tooting my own horn here in terms of fanfic, I am referring to class assignments and whatnot. However, as a result, I can go on forever and a day on a subject. So, the question is __**how much detail do you want on how they use magic?**__ I'm talking magic lessons here. Of course, I'll pass on the comic relief moments, and the important plot bits, but really, __**how much do you want to know about the mechanics of magic?**__ RESPOND VIA REVIEW PLEASE! Or else you might be stuck with the magic lesson that never ends! Muahaha!_

_Also, I swear I was not making hidden innuendo or foreshadowing with all the Jared/Brana/Bed stuff. I only noticed it after my friend read it for editing/proofing purposes and complimented me on good foreshadowing using diction. I DIDN'T MEAN IT, I SWEAR! Any hidden innuendo was not intentional! Plus, it goes against every fiber in my being to propose the idea of a Mary Sue in a fanfic, and if I'm not careful, that is what this Brana character will become. Anyway, so for all you pervs out there—I didn't mean it! The kid is like, what, 13 years old! Come on!_


	11. Hail, Hail, The Gang's All Here

_Authors's Note: Hey everyone, I'm back! I know it's been about a month, but I had midterms, and then I was on spring break...but anyway, I've been writing up a storm lately, so be prepared for a few updates this week. They may be a bit short, but it's quality, not quantity, right?_

_Please remember to review! I'm glad a few more people put me on story alert, but I love thoes reviews too!_

* * *

"Jared!" Helen hollered as she withdrew her keys from the door. "Jared, we're home!"

From the attic, Jared had seen his mother's car pull in the drive, and had run downstairs to meet the rest of his family, warning his new house-mate as he went to remember to lay low.

"Simon!" Jared called, from the top of the stairs. "You're back!" Jared smiled at his brother as Simon struggled through the doorway, carrying his over-stuffed satchel and sleeping bag.

"You gonna help, or are you just gonna stand there, watch us carry all this junk by ourselves?" his sister's voice rang through the foyer as she bustled behind Simon, both hands full of what appeared to be shopping bags.

"Nah," Jared snickered, "I think you've got it covered."

At his mother's glare, Jared reluctantly came forward, picking up his brother's sleeping bag, and carrying it up to their shared room.

"Thanks," Simon said, as Mallory groaned, muttering something along the lines of, "Of course he goes to help _Simon_, who was getting along _fine_…"

As Simon joined his brother in their room, he turned to Jared, "So what happened while I was gone?"

Jared felt the all too familiar tug behind his navel, the one he was beginning to associate with guilt, as he helped Simon pull the used clothing out of his bag and pile them in the hamper.

"Umm…" he responded, "Not much. I managed to piss off Mom and Mallory, as usual, but it wasn't a big deal. I mean, they got over it pretty quick." There was no way Jared was going to mention the row he'd had with his mother, nor the deal that had been made afterwards in exchange for peace. "Overall, it was pretty boring here without you, bro."

Jared glanced at Simon; the neater brother was just attempting to make some semblance of order out of the mess Jared had made of their room that weekend. It seemed as though Simon didn't hear anything out of the ordinary in Jared's voice, or simply did not expect any deception. In one way, Jared felt comforted in this; in another, quite disturbed.

"What about you?" Jared questioned Simon, "How did your…nature-weekend thing go?"

"It was really cool!" Simon's face lit up as he began to regale Jared with tales from his trip, not noticing how his brother's face fell, with each recounting of a new friend made, or a new adventure had.

Simon was glad to be back home. He had really enjoyed the trip, and the new friends he had made there, but he had missed his family, as dysfunctional as they were.

But as Simon talked on and on about his trip, and about the new bugs he had collected, he noticed something odd. Jared was ignoring him. His mom was ignoring Jared. And Mallory kept glaring daggers at his brother's back. Something was wrong here.

"Jared," he called. "We learned this really cool system of classification called binomial nomenclature at camp. I think if we applied it to the faeries, it might be easier to tell how they're all connected!"

"Whatever Simon," Jared said, glancing at his Mom. "That sounds real cool and all, but I don't really care. Go 'nomenclate' a woodchuck or something. Just leave me out of it."

Simon was saddened, but not entirely surprised by his brother's refusal to cooperate. Jared was, after all, getting more and more annoyed by what he called Simon's 'nerd-ness.' He already made fun of Simon at school, taunting him about his clothes, while Jared and his so-called 'friends' hung around the hallways in their baggy black bands and old band shirts. Simon knew that Jared would eventually stop being his 'friend.' But was he giving up on faeries, too?


	12. The Enemy?

_**Author's Note: **Disclaimer: I disclaim Spiderwick. _

_Here's the next update. Aren't I good, getting it out so quickly? I know it's a little short, I'll try to work on longer chapters in the future. Please, please PLEASE review! I have no incentive to write or update more if people don't seem to like what I'm writing. Or at least reading it and NOT liking it. As I've said before, flames are A-OK with me!_

_So, during that review that I know you are all DYING to give me after you read this chapter, lemme know if I'm putting too much emphasis on Brana, the OC. I hate OC's on principle, and I am trying my darndest (haha, i said "darndest") not to let this become a mary sue fic, so if it is, LET ME KNOW! so i can go bang my head on the nearest wall and rewrite chapters and whatnot. _

_happy reading!_

* * *

Brana was intrigued. As she prowled around the old attic turned study that was to be her new room, she found herself learning more and more about the man called Arthur Spiderwick. It seemed to her as though the man had known about the Fantastical Realm. He was certainly dedicated to the study of the natural world. Brana, however, wanted to know how he managed to discover the supernatural one as well.

She paused in front of the large painting of the man, contemplating. Was he the human who had taken over in Mulgarath's stead? No. the sprite said a child had a "book" giving him or her power over the faeries. This man did not discover the Fantastical Realm until he was well past twenty. He was certainly no child.

And what of the strange family that had taken over residence of the house. She had the impression that the Graces had not been close with the Spiderwicks. The whole house had a sense of age, the dust and frayed curtains whispering up that no one had lived there in years. And Jared had seemed completely surprised by those goblins. No, the Graces could not be controlling the faeries.

As she reached forward to touch a picture on Spiderwick's desk, a small frame surrounding the face of young Lucinda, Thimbletack charged. Over the sound of his pounding feet, he could hear the enemy whisper, "Spiderwick's child…the one who erected the circle barrier…"

"Attack the enemy!" Thimbletack shouted, as the small Bogart charged the slender girl, locking his jaw around her ankle.

"What is this?" she muttered, as she waved a hand over the small creature, knocking him to the ground without so much as laying a single finger on him.

The green being yelled his outrage and quickly zigzagged across the floor, jumping towards her face with his arms outstretched, his eyes narrowing in anger. But with the reflexes of one with more than amateur knowledge of combat situations, she whipped her arm out in front of her, her taloned hand closing tightly around the Bogart.

As Thimbletack continued to struggle, she raised him up to eye-level.

"Are you a Bogart?" she asked.

Hearing only a string of insults in response, she merely cocked her head, considering.

"You must be. You match the description. Fascinating. I have never before met one of your kind, but I had imagined that a creature with the self-declared mission of protecting a human dwelling would be more…stalwart?"

At the string of expletives issued from the mouth of the ugly green being, she simply cocked her head to the other side, blinking her glowing green eyes.

"So why are you attacking _me_?" she questioned.

"You are the enemy!" He hissed.

"Ah, a response," she murmured.

"Creatures like you are not welcome in the forest, and I certainly don't want your kind in _my house_!"

She lowered the creature again so that in its rage it would not manage to spit all over her face.

"I will tell!" he threatened. "I will tell the masters what you really are! Then the boy will not be so welcoming to invite you into _my house_!"

Brana scowled angrily, her eyes flashing darkly. She parted her lips enough for the tips of her fangs to be visible in the moonlight.

"I will allow you to do no such thing," she hissed menacingly.

The small Bogart had enough sense to know when he was in trouble, and he gulped as he saw the tall creature's mouth widen to an impossible degree in the most terrifying smile Thimbletack had ever seen.

The poor Bogart trembled as he felt more fear invade his system than when he had fought with Jared against the ogre Mulgarath. This was not good…

* * *

_**A/N: **Be on the lookout for the next update. I PROMISE it will be up in the next two days. I have it written, I just need to proof and edit. _


	13. Learning to Listen

_**Author's Note:** Here's your disclaimer: I don't own Spiderwick. cause if i did i'd have a lot more money. _

_Many thanks to **Brian**, **thecuriousoracle**, and **Asuka Rui Uchiha** for their reviews! All of ya'll's responses are what keep me writing!_

_I haven't been writing creatively as much as I used to, so all these creatives styles have been piling up, and in this chapter, imagery, sensory and sensual rhetoric managed to burst out. Sorry bout that. Despite all appearences, Jared and the OC will not get together. Unless of course you message me, or tell me in those reviews that i KNOW you guys wanna write for me (wink wink nudge nudge) that you want them to. I'll stop blathering now (I am getting better...i reread the last couple of chapters, and my A/N's are getting WAY too long)_

_So here we go!_

* * *

**Title: THE NEXT STEP**

**Author: pelori**

**Chapter 13: Learning to Listen**

It was almost 11:00 that night before Jared was able to raid the fridge, and head up to the faerie now making her residence in his attic/study.

He knocked carefully on the door before slowly pushing it open.

"Brana?" He called, softly.

"That smells heavenly!" a voice from the shadows murmured.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he was able to make out a white smile of fangs, surrounded by pale lips. As he watched, her tongue slipped out, running along her mouth, emphasizing each point on each fang protruding from the lethal jaw.

"You know," Jared remarked, as he shuffled into the dark room, "If I didn't know you, I would be seriously creeped out by that."

He reached over to the wall, hitting the switch that gently illuminating the old room, showing the cloak-clad body supporting what had appeared to be a floating mouth full of deadly incisors.

"Do you know me then?" the girl said as she walked over to Jared, accepting the plate of food in his outstretched hands.

"I guess…not really," Jared realized. "Should I be worried?" he smirked.

"I suppose not, since you seem at ease enough to joke, though not enough for your heart-rate to normalize," the girl's long fingers ran over the food as she sat cross-legged in the center of the room, selecting a fluffy brown roll, slowly raising it to her mouth, smelling it before parting her lips, accepting the small piece of bread into the cavern of her mouth, biting down softly, betraying the danger posed by that bite.

Jared watched, entranced.

"You can hear my heart-beat?" he asked, following the path of the second piece of roll from the slender fingers to the pale mouth.

"You could too, you know," she said as she finished the roll, and began sifting through the other foods presented before her.

She glanced up at Jared, noticing his blush of embarrassment for observing her so intently before he turned away.

She smiled at him. "You don't have to be afraid, you know," she said softly, crawling over to where Jared was seated on the floor.

"I'm not scared," Jared lied, unconsciously leaning away from the girl before him.

Before he could react or push her away, the tall faerie struck out, grabbing his wrist as he fell back, struggling.

"Be still," she whispered.

Looking up at the green orbs before him, Jared did as he was told, balancing on his elbows behind him as he stared at the girl, waiting to see what she would do.

The slender fingers holding his wrist with a vice-like grip softened, and gently guided his hand to rest on his chest.

"Listen," she whispered.

Spellbound by this strange faerie, he obeyed, closing his eyes, sitting still, and just _listening_.

He slowly became aware of a deep, repeating breath.

"I can hear myself breathing," he whispered to no one in particular, his eyes remaining closed.

"Go beyond that," the soft voice guided him. "Listen harder. Seek out the sounds that you've been missing."

Jared felt himself stilling, more so than he had, perhaps, ever before. He did not just let the sounds wash over him. He actively pursued the sounds; the creaking of the old house in the night, the breathing of himself, of the girl before him, the slow steady beat felt beneath his fingers. As he stilled himself, he felt the cool fingers holding his palm over his chest. As he focused, he realized they were not still. They were moving, slowly pulsing. And as Jared lay there, propped up off the floor, he matched the pulsing of the slender fingers on his hand to the soft beat he heard somewhere in front of him.

Jared slowly opened his eyes to look at the pale face in front of him, staring into the bright green eyes.

"I heard your heartbeat," he murmured, surprise written on his darker features.

The girl, Brana, smiled, removing her hand from Jared's, and sitting back on her haunches, reaching yet again for the plate of food.

"You see?" she asked of the startled boy before her. "It's not that hard. And you don't need to be worried about these," she said, running a digit across her fangs.

Jared sighed, sitting up, resuming his Indian-style position.

"I didn't mean to stare," he confessed, "but it's just so odd to see…" at a loss for words, he simply gestured towards her person.

She smiled comfortingly.

"I know it is probably completely unbelievable to you to realize that there are faeries living amongst you, and one of them currently _with_ you. It will take some to adjust, I am sure."

Jared's stomach lurched.

"Brana," he began.

"Hmm?" her attention was diverted by a particularly large piece of meatloaf on her plate, as she attempted to save it from the onslaught of sauce coming from her green beans.

"Brana," he started again, "I need to tell you something."

"Jared," she interrupted, "knowing what I just showed you, you should realize that I am able to, with a simple focusing of my will, hear simple changes in intonation in your breathing and heart-rate. I am even able to see the heat spreading across your face as you try to hide your eyes from me. I suggest that in the future you attempt to disguise these signs of what you are thinking. I know that you feel guilt and embarrassment, likely from withholding some sort of information from me."

She paused for a moment as Jared glanced her way, a hint of fear tinting the red of guilt across his cheeks.

"Not a criticism," she augmented, "just an observation."

Jared sighed.

"I already knew about faeries."

The girl cocked her head as she swallowed the last of the green beans to have been on her plate.

Jared took a deep breath, preparing for the explanation. He just hoped she was true to her word, and he would not have to fear those deadly fangs after he shared with her this information that was certain to upset her.


	14. The Discovery

_**Author's Note: **Do I really have to say everytime that I'm not Holly Black and do not own this stuff? Cause I'm not. And I don't._

_Alright guys, we have a problem. NO ONE IS REVIEWING! this makes me sad. Here's an ultimatum. I'm going to blackmail you by saying that if I won't post another chapter until you review. So there. :P_

_Ok, so I am so proud of myself for keeping up with my updates! This chapter is really intense. I actually toyed with the idea of upping the rating to M. When you guys review, which I know you WILL (see above ultimatum) just because you love me that much, tell me if you think this fic should be M rather than T. _

_Happy reading! Or not, since this chapter's not very happy...oh, i'm giving stuff away, i'm giving stuff away *promptly stuff her fist in her mouth and attempts to type with one hand*_

_here's the next chapter!_

* * *

**Title: THE NEXT STEP**

**Author: pelori**

**Chapter 14: The Discovery**

"_I already knew about faeries."_

_The girl cocked her head as she swallowed the last of the green beans to have been on her plate._

"You see," Jared continued nervously, "Arthur Spiderwick, the man in that portrait, discovered the Fantastical Realm. He studied faeries…no, he made them his life's work. Everything he learned, he compiled into his Field Guide."

"A book?" Brana questioned, her face blank. "A book containing all the knowledge of the faeries in this area?" She raised one eyebrow slightly in question.

"Yes," Jared replied, sighing, "I know it was dangerous, but at the beginning, he didn't realize what he was doing, putting all that stuff together in one place. He found out later when this ogre, Mulgarath, decided that he wanted the book for himself."

"I am sure," Brana mused, bringing her pale fingers to stroke her chin thoughtfully, her eyes still drawn in an emotionless gaze, "he certainly would, at that."

"Well, Spiderwick made the Circle and hid the book away, but that wasn't enough for the elves and the silf—"

"Obtrusive meddlers," the faerie girl muttered.

Jared continued, "His daughter, Lucinda, learned form her father's work and had the Sight, but she never read his book. She feared it. Eventually, she got too old to stay here and fight off the goblins alone. She went to an old people's home and—"

"A what?" Brana questioned.

"An old…never mind. Remind me to tell you later," _if she is still willing to listen at that time, _Jared thought to himself. "Somehow, Mom found out that the house was empty, and since we didn't have anywhere else to live, we moved here. I mean, Lucinda _did_ leave us the house, after all."

Jared paused. This was the part wherein he feared the reaction from the potentially terrifying faerie before him.

"What happened to the book?" Brana asked carefully, studying Jared's face, as she began to draw the pieces together. If Jared's story followed through to its logical conclusion…

"I found it," Jared whispered, his eyes to the floor. "I found it and broke the seal," he raised his eyes slowly to meet the intense glare of the fantastical creature sitting altogether too close for comfort. "I read it. Every word. I know more about the Fantastical Realm than anyone since Arthur himself when he wrote it."

"_What?_" the girl hissed, baring her razor-sharp fangs, as thoughts ran through her head: the words of the sprite in the forest, _'This used to be Mulgarath's territory, but he is gone now, and no one rules here. Well, maybe the child with the book…' _the yells of the Bogart, _'I will tell the master…Then the boy will not be so welcoming,_' and the strange conversation she had had with the boy, '_You want me to teach you a power that does not belong to any human?' _and his reply, _'Yeah! I want to learn as much as I can about the Fantastical Realm!"_

The faerie growled, a low, feral sound that sent adrenaline and fear running through Jared's system. The human boy began to scramble backwards, knowing the black-clad creature in front of him could hear the crazily erratic beating of his heart, and likely smell his terror.

"_You_ are the one who defeated the ogre, supplanted him, and used that Book to maintain rule over the faeries!"

"What?" Jared breathed out, "No, I—"

Before he could react, the snarling faerie launched herself forward, knocking the boy to the floor, pinning him below her.

Jared struggled frantically against her hold on him, her grip unbearably tight.

"No, you don't under—"

"Liar! I _knew_ humans couldn't be trusted!" she barked out, opening her deadly maw to reveal her jagged incisors, lowering her head until the tip of one of her canines moved across the exposed skin of Jared's neck, drawing a thick line of blood in its wake.

Jared drew in a shaky breath. Was this the end? Was this strange creature going to kill him? But as he felt the faerie's taloned hands dig into his wrists and shoulder, his fight or flight instinct kicked him into action. He brought his knee up, throwing it into her thigh, at the same time that he threw his head forward, crashing it against the pale forehead lowered so conveniently close.

The creature roared, her grip loosened just enough for Jared to scramble out from under her, kicking and punching as he went.

Thrown back by the force of Jared's struggle, and the pounding in her head, the faerie shrugged off her clock, revealing pale hardened muscles, quivering with anticipation of the attack, her torso covered with a thick black leather jerkin and matching leggings on the legs that were slightly too long and slender to be considered normal for a human.

But Jared didn't stop long enough to register anything other than her stance; she was ready to strike. He stealthily reached into his pocket, drawing out the pocket knife he kept with him at all times since the struggle with Mulgarath.

"That's not the way it happened!" Jared tried once more as he carefully opened the knife one-handed, hiding it against his thigh.

"Really?" the creature growled sarcastically, "Then let me see!"

Jared had only a second's warning before she sprang, her arms outstretched. Almost in slow motion, Jared reacted, bringing his knife-hand up, his wrist steady before him. At the same time, he felt what seemed like a dozen tiny daggers digging into his neck.

As he opened his mouth to scream, he was aware of two other sensations: one, he no longer felt the cool metal of the knife in his hand, only warm flesh pressed against him, and two, a cool hand had come to rest against his forehead. And suddenly, Jared felt like he was thrown into the center of a whirlwind.

Flashing before him, he saw hundreds of images: his father, playing baseball with him the Christmas he had received his first baseball glove; Simon's face as he sat in the cage suspended above the goblin camp; his sister's crying visage as she, Jared and Simon sat at the top of the stairs of their house in New York, listening to their parents yell at each other; the mirror shattering as Jared's fist pounded into it, furious at the principal for giving him detention for yet another fight; Mulgarath, in his true ogre form plowing through the old Spiderwick mansion, the small Grace family doing everything they can to stop him; and finally, a tiny sprite held in the palm of Jared's hand as he applied Neosporin and a small Band-aid to the tiny creature's battered leg after a bad fall.

All at once, the noise of the whirlwind reached a crescendo and stopped, at the same time that the sound of his own scream came back to him. But the pain in his neck slowly began to recede, as did his cry as Brana slowly pulled back her hand from his brow, her teeth from his flesh, slowly moving her body off of Jared's, which once again lay pinned to the floor. As more of Jared's senses returned to him, he felt the warm hilt of the knife in his hand, surrounded by warm sticky liquid.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **Ohh, cliffie! Sorry to leave you guys hanging, but the opportunity was knocking! _

_Anyway, **I will hold the other half of this chapter HOSTAGE (cause I do have it almost completely finished) until I get at least ONE REVIEW!** If I don't get any reviews, it seems to me like you guys don't like this fic, so there' s no reason for me to continue to update. _

_I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing. In writing this chapter, I realized that I have never before written a fight scene. How n00b-like of me! Horrible! Anyhoo, I hope it was alright. I know one of my lovely review-ees, Jaredfan, I believe it was said that they loved it when Jared got into trouble and fights. How 'bout this one? :3_


	15. The Explanation

_**Author's Note: **__I'm so sorry everyone for being so grumpy last chapter. Btw, I don't own Spiderwick. Anyway, I had no right to say what I did. I promise never to hold a chapter hostage again, especially with a cliffie like that!_

_So…I know this chapter's a bit short and dull, but after all that excitement the last couple chapters, I needed to take a bit just to explain what the heck was going on. I hope it's not too confusing. _

_Review please! (See, I'm being nice now :D )_

* * *

**Title: THE NEXT STEP**

**Author: pelori**

**CH. 15: THE EXPLANATION**

Jared's eyes widened as he watched the faerie girl pull away from him. Her eyes no longer glowed an unnatural shade of green, but the human blood dripping from her mouth belied the projected calm of her green orbs.

Jared's fingers were still clenched painfully tight around his knife, and he visibly cringed, his eyes widening even further as he heard a sickening wet sucking sound as the faerie pulled herself off the blade in Jared's hand. He was frozen in place. What had just happened? What made Brana stop her frenzied attack?

"You weren't lying," the girl whispered, reaching her hand towards Jared's face. "You are a friend to the faeries."

Jared jerked back, knocking against the leg of Spiderwick's desk chair, dropping the bloodied knife from his reddened hands. He sat there, in confusion and fear, staring at Brana's face as a tear leaked from the corner of her eye.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, slowly moving forward to the human before her. Jared stilled, listening. His own heart was beginning to still, or was that hers? He couldn't tell. He tried not to flinch as she reached forward to wipe away the blood from a cut on his cheek. Where had that come from?

"What did you do?" he asked breathlessly, referring to the tumultuous torrent of images that had barraged his mind, prior to the cessation of their impromptu fight.

The faerie girl sank down onto the floor beside him, and breathed out raggedly, pressing a pale hand to the flower of red blossoming out from her stomach.

Jared's breath hitched. "I didn't mean to!" he cried. "I—"

"It's all right," she assured him. "It did not penetrate too deeply. What other reason would I have for donning this ridiculous-looking vest?" Her attempt at levity went unnoticed.

She watched as Jared's eyes traveled quickly between the wound on her abdomen and the bloody knife on the floor by his feet. She gently reached a hand to his neck, lightly pressing against the jagged tear that ran diagonally from below his left ear down to his collar bone. When he jerked, she calmed him with reassuring whispers.

"Do not feel guilty, Jared Grace," she murmured softly, "for I have hurt you, I believe, much worse than you have hurt me. I did not mean to frighten you—"

"I wasn't sca—" Jared began. Brana's soft chuckle cut through his words before he could finish. She raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

"Do you really want to finish that sentence?" she asked, amused, her hand still pressed over the gaping wound on Jared's neck.

The human boy chanced a smile.

"Okay," he admitted, "I may have been a _little_ scared. So…" he began, cautiously looking anywhere but at Brana's face, "What was that?"

The faerie girl's cheeks turned red in shame.

"I am not used to dealing with humans," she said, "as I mentioned earlier. My kind has always been taught to fear and mistrust humans." She paused, studying Jared's face. "I am not supposed to divulge any information freely; however, I believe I owe it to you."

She took a deep breath. "I come from a clan of faeries that live in the eastern portion of the continent humans call Europe. There, we keep an eye not only on the faeries of our domain, but also of those around the globe. Many years ago, we had received word of a terrible evil that had coalesced in this forest. Normally, a faerie from this continent would be charged with the missive of…_removing_ the problem. However, we have recently been overrun with work. Hiding from the humans becomes more and more difficult, and soon, we realized after several attempts, that there were no available faeries willing and able on this continent to deal with the threat of Mulgarath. As such, I was sent to do away with him, and establish a new faerie order."

"So you're a…" Jared paused. His fear for the girl was waning, though he was still wary. "You're an assassain?"

Brana winced. "In such unforgiving and the most blunt of terms, yes, though my job entails much more. I have to make sure that whatever menace I destroy does not leave a vacuum which may hurt the faerie community," she mock-glared at Jared, as he listened intently, "and I do not always _kill_ in order to remove a threat. Last year in Prague, I just neutralized the enemy by knocking her into that flash freeze contraption those humans have in their factory. Unfortunately for you, from what information I had managed to acquire, I was under the impression that whatever human child possessed the Field Guide had taken Mulgarath's place. That is the only reason I attacked you. I do have a bit of a temper," she said sheepishly.

She thought that he was some sort of faerie dictator? And he couldn't believe that the faerie envoy actually seemed _proud_ of how she removed the target without killing. He suddenly felt _way_ over his head. And speaking of his head…

"Jared?" Brana called worriedly as his eyelids began to close, and his head began to droop. In fact, his skin looked far paler than what is considered normal for humans.

"Hmm?" he answered, as his eyelids flickered open again. "Oh," he exclaimed, when he saw the faerie's worried face so close to his.

"I may have been a bit rough when I searched through your memories the way I did. I apologize."

Jared nodded slowly, barely realizing in the back of his head the fact that this faerie somehow was able to manipulate his brain, or at least his memories, to see whatever she wanted. The more pressing issue, however, was how weak he suddenly felt.

"Jared?" When he did not respond in more than a halfhearted non-verbal grunt, the faerie girl realized what was going on. The human was suffering from blood loss!

"Jared," Brana spoke slowly and clearly. Hopefully the human was cognizant enough to realize what was going on. "Jared, you've lost too much blood from that wound. I need to close it now,"

"Mmm hmm," Jared affirmed, his eyes once again beginning to close.

"My kind," the faerie continued to explain, "are similar to hobgoblins. Our bodily fluids have special properties, though rather than providing the receiving being with The Sight, our fluids have medicinal properties. I can," she explained further, "close your wound and clean it very simply, but I do not want you to become afraid and jerk away, you understand?"

"Me, scared?" he whispered.

"Good boy," she said quietly, her other hand running through his hair, coming to rest against the side of his head, holding him in place. She never knew humans could deteriorate this quickly from such a small wound. "Now just hold still."

Holding him in place, the faerie lowered her head to Jared's neck, where she had, not ten minutes before, used her deadly teeth to produce the wound in question.

Jared stiffened, as he belatedly realized that the fanged girl was once again placing her vicious incisors far too close to his flesh for comfort. He did not flinch, however, until he felt a warm tongue trace the edges of the incision. 'Bodily fluids,' his sluggish mind managed to process, 'like a hobgoblin…' Her _spit_ was going to fix him?

He winced as her tongue moved over the painfully sensitive tear, his mind beginning to feel foggy.

Brana braced herself as Jared slumped in her arms. She continued working methodically, applying liberal amounts of her natural healing salve, cleaning and closing the wound. When she was done with him, she would have to use a saturated rag to clean up her own wound. By morning, hopefully, his body would have produced enough blood for him to function.

As the blood flow began to slow, she heard a fumbling noise from one of the drawers above her head.

"Thimbletack," she mumbled against Jared's neck. "I suppose I have wronged you as well."

She paused in her ministrations long enough to glance at the drawer which she knew enclosed a very angry Bogart.

"But I do not have the time nor the energy to convince you that I am not evil, especially," she said, as her eyes swept the blood-splattered room and disrupted furniture, coming to rest yet again on the bloody, pale, unconscious human in her arms, "given the particular circumstances in which we now find ourselves."

As she began to lick clean the rest of the blood from around the now sealed wound, the faerie girl could not help but wonder what would happen tomorrow. Tomorrow, her student, new-found confidant, possible friend, human liaison, and unfortunate victim of her anger would awaken; she would free the furious Bogart; and her future as the European faerie envoy to this backcountry faerie territory would be decided. How amusing, she thought, that her fate, as it were, now rested with this small human boy. What would be her next step in this long journey to bring a peaceful rule to the faeries?

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Gotta love the shameless plug for the title there. _

_Anywazzs, hope ya'll enjoyed the new chapter! Be on the lookout for a new one in the next week. I've just gotten a temp job, so I won't be pumping out the chapters every day or so like I've been doing, but I'll make sure I get _at least_ one or two out a week! _


	16. The Cover Up

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I don't own Spiderwick or any of its characters. PLEASE READ THE A/N AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER! **PLEASE!**_

* * *

**Title: THE NEXT STEP**

**Author: pelori**

**CH. 16: THE COVER-UP**

"Mallory!" Helen Grace yelled into the open doorway of her daughter's bedroom. "Get up! The office called this morning, and I'm going to have to go in early for a bit today."

"Hmpf," Mallory groaned into her pillow.

"Mallory, sweetie, did you hear? I need you to get the boys breakfast, and make sure they don't burn down the house or anything while I'm gone."

"Sure, Mom," Mallory grunted noncommittally. She would deal with her little brothers, just as soon as she got another hour or two of sleep.

* * *

Simon roused himself slowly from a wonderful dream revolving around a whole pryde of baby griffins, just waiting for him to play with them. Unfortunately, after he was woken by the slamming door downstairs as his mother headed off for who-knows-where, he knew it would be impossible to go back to sleep, and back to that wonderful dream.

"Jared?" he called sleepily, glancing towards his brother's empty bed. Well that was odd. Jared never got up this early on a Sunday. What was he doing?

Simon rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and pulled on the pair of slippers he kept beside his bed. If Jared was up this early, he had to be getting into trouble. As the more responsible twin, he felt it was _his_ _duty_ to try to stop his brother from making too many stupid mistakes.

He rolled his eyes as he passed Mallory's room. _She_ should be the one making sure their wayward brother didn't get into trouble. After all, Mom had left _her_ in charge. "Honestly," Simon mumbled as he approached the attic stairs, the best place to begin his search, "sometimes she's as bad as Jared."

* * *

Jared groaned as he roused himself from slumber. His eyelids fluttered, and he started at finding himself laying on his aunt's old bed in Spiderwick's hidden study.

"What—" he tried to say as he raised himself on his forearms, when he hissed in pain, clamping his hand to his neck. As what felt like pain from an old wound flared up at the touch, his fingers ran over the jagged edges of the semi-healed skin. Suddenly, the events of the night before came flooding back to him.

"She healed me," he whispered to himself, running his fingers lightly across the raw pink skin on his neck.

His eyes scanned the room around him, taking in the blood-stained floor and overturned furniture, finally coming to rest on the faerie girl on the floor next to the large bed on which he lay. She was curled up into a tight ball, belying her true size, as she wrapped around her clock, using it both as a pillow and a blanket. And yet, it did not cover her completely. In fact, as Jared looked, he could see the lower part of her torso, where there was a short tear in the blood-stained black leather. The skin looked new and raw, much like Jared imaged the flesh on his own neck now looked.

The nauseous feeling Jared had felt in his belly earlier for lying was nothing compared to the gut-wrenching sensation now had, looking at the girl that he had ruthlessly stabbed the night before.

"I did that," he whispered. "She could have _died_," disbelief and regret laced his words.

The faerie girl's eyelids fluttered.

Suddenly, Jared heard the distinct noise of a turning doorknob. His eyes widened in trepidation, waiting for one of his family members to come in and see that which he most dearly wanted to keep secret. The doorknob continued to rattle, and Jared sighed in relief as he realized the door was locked.

As the person on the other side realized this as well, Jared heard them begin to pound on the door.

"I know you're in there Jared!" he heard his brother call out. "Open the door!"

At the noise, the faerie girl leapt up, talons outstretched, eyes frantically scanning the room, finally coming to rest on Jared: his scarred neck, scratched arms, and bloodied shirt and jeans. She retracted her claws as the eyes of the faerie and human met for a moment, communicating in a moment what there was no time to say in words.

"Jared!" Simon yelled, frustration seeping into his voice.

At this, both human and faerie leapt into action. Jared quickly grabbed his discarded knife, feeling disgust at the blood encrusting the blade. Nonetheless, he quickly cut a long strip off the bottom of his shirt, wrapping the dark, and thankfully blood-free, cloth around his neck in an impromptu choker, covering his new scar.

As he finished this, Brana thrust her cloak over his shoulders, wrapping it around him, and shoving him towards the door, making shooing motions with her long pale hands.

Jared nodded his assent and unlocked the door, stepping out and quickly closing the door to the hidden room behind him, praying that Simon would not insist on entry into the room.

"Jar—" Simon had begun to say again, before his twin burst through the door, on which Simon still had his fist raised to knock. His eyes widened as he took in his brother's appearance: a pale face, Simon certainly would never think of blood-loss as a cause, dark shadows around his eyes, messy too-long hair covering up half of his face, a dark choker wrapped round his neck, and some strange black _thing_ wrapped around his thin frame. What had his brother been doing? Simon knew Jared had been hanging around with some weird kids at school. Did he sneak out last night with them or something?

Jared was aware of his brother's discomfort and quickly attempting to divert the awkward tension arising between the two.

"Hey bro," he started, "I accidentally fell asleep up here last night working on some…" Jared remembered the promise to his mother: keep Simon out of faerie stuff. "…some bio homework. Some of Arthur's books are a big help."

"Uh-huh," Simon nodded skeptically.

"So anyway, lemme grab a shower real quick, then we can go grab some breakfast, all right?"

"Yeah…sure," Simon said slowly, still studying Jared as if he was some strange creature whose next action Simon could not predict.

"Cool," Jared said, pushing his brother down the hallway in front of him.

* * *

After Jared finished showering and made his way to his room, carefully sliding a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of pants over his battered body and wrapping his new choker around his neck, Mallory was stirring and getting ready for the day, mentally preparing herself for the eminent battle with the ancient kitchen she was going to have to have in order to make pancakes for herself and her brothers.

"Mallory?" Simon questioned his sister, as they met at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hmm?" she responded distractedly as she gathered up the ingredients for breakfast.

"Do you know if anyone at school was throwing a party last night?" he asked. As a social outcast himself, he figured Mallory would be more aware of the particular brand of extracurricular activities some students were wont to participate in.

"Last night?" She cast her eyes to the ceiling in thought as she began mixing the batter. "I don't really know," she said, turning to face her quieter brother. "Why do you ask?"

"Well…" Simon hesitated in telling his sister his suspicions. "I think, maybe, that Jared may have, possibly, snuck out last night?" he finished, uncertainty in his voice.

"What? What makes you think that?" She questioned.

Before Simon could answer, Jared strolled through the door, his mouth beginning to water at the delectable smells emanating from the stove where his sister was pouring the batter onto the griddle.

She took in his appearance much like her brother had: the pale skin, shadowed eyes, wet hair clinging to his face, slightly covering one eye, the dark long-sleeved shirt and the strange choker. He really did not look that bad, she thought, after all, the shirt was fitted, and the dark cloth around his neck gave his thin features more distinction. No, Jared's change did not look _bad_, it was just _different_. It wasn't like him.

_Hmm_, she thought to herself. _Maybe Simon's on to something. I'm not his frickin' keeper or anything, but I maybe I should keep a closer eye on him and his _friends_ at school. _

"Need any help?" Jared asked, hoping to speed up this whole process so he could get back to the faerie in his attic, and maybe calming down his brother and sister at the same time. Simon's kindness always seemed to help him go far. Unfortunately, his plan backfired.

"You're offering to _help_?" Mallory said, astonished. Even Simon was looking at his brother like he had a screw loose.

Jared rolled his eyes. He just couldn't win!

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **All right, I'm finally beginning to get the rest of the family involved again! In the future, they will make more than simple cameo appearences, I assure you! Anyway, here's the promised chapter for this week. Sorry that it's little more than a filler, but the past few updates have been action-packed, so they can tide you guys over until chapters 17, or maybe 18, right? _

_Okay, question for all my loyal readers. There are two ways this story can go. I can end at ch. 20-ish with a lovely little conclusion, if you want. I know some people prefer shorter fics. HOWEVER, I originally planned a much longer conclusion with all of this added intrigue and action and a wondefully-created, if I do say so myself, enemy. So the question is this: end with the shorter version, or keep going? If I end shorter, I can always post a "sequel" later..._

_Please read and review to let me know what you think!_


	17. The Progression

_**Author's Note:** Sorry this update took a little longer than I planned...I've been busy. But here it is! I've finally decided how to end the story too, so now I'm not just winging it...I actually have a plan! _

_Well, this chapter is going to be a bit of a two-parter. I was originally planning on putting this and what will be ch. 18 together, but ch. 17 just ended up so long, I decided to add them separately. Anyway, be on the lookout for ch. 18 some time this week. _

_Disclaimer: I don't claim these characters. Except for Brana. Oh dear God, that means I've made an OC *bangs head on desk repeatedly*_

* * *

**Title: THE NEXT STEP**

**Author: pelori**

**CH. 17: THE PROGRESSION**

"That's it," she whispered encouragingly. "Just keep it steady, Jared, you've almost got it."

Brana was amazed at how quickly the boy had progressed under her tutelage. She had now been teaching him all she knew, or at least, all she was willing to divulge, about the Fantastical Realm, and he was taking to it like a fish to water. It had only been about three moons—_no_, she reminded herself, _three months_—since the human and faerie had struck their deal.

Every day she would meet him in the attic early in the morning, before the rest of the house was up. He would bring her food that he had made either that morning or the night before. Despite the fact that she had released Thimbletack, and both she and Jared had tried their best to make him understand the situation, the small Bogart still did not approve of the presence of _that creature_ in his house.

The funny thing was, Thimbletack could have sworn he used to know more about _the creature_: where she came from, what she was, and why she was so dangerous. Strangely, however, while his suspicion of her dissipated, he could no longer remember, and thus could not explain to Jared, why exactly he thought the tall faerie girl was so dangerous. And if the mysterious girl tended to smirk a bit whenever Thimbletack began fumbling with his words, attempting to explain to his master that he _knew_ what this girl was, he just couldn't _say _it, well, nobody paid much mind.

As a result of Thimbletack's general grouchiness when it came to the fanged girl, however, Jared was becoming, while not skilled, at least able in the art of cooking. Much to his mother's astonishment, he actually began offering to help her or Mallory when they were making meals. And if his sister or mother noticed him nicking a bit more food than he could possibly eat, well, they kept quiet about it.

During the early morning meal, Brana would talk to Jared, telling him stories, theories, abstracts, and legends that she knew of the Fantastical Realm. Some days he would get a funny story; like how Zirnaf the Fierce, one of the Ottoman's greatest sorcerer-warriors learned that wyverns, particularly young amorous wyverns, like the beautiful Gregetta the Silverwinged, believed, in their culture, the brandishing of bright silvery metals, much like the sword he had brought with him to attempt to slay the beast, were a proposal of courtship. Zirnaf the Fierce never did slay the beast that day. Rather, he began a lifelong journey from one end of the earth to another, in an attempt to escape from the young wyvern who believed they were courting.

Sometimes they would discuss magical theory. Jared had no idea there was so much science in magic. It took some of the fun out of learning move things with your mind, Jared thought, when you realized what you were really doing was applying a force generated from one's own power core, to support the object. Sometimes, he learned, you could even move things without using a tug on the invisible power strings connecting all things. Rather, he could condense the molecules of air surrounding the object, much like a fist grasping a marble. Of course, to do this he needed a crash course in the chemistry of molecules, atoms, and all things tiny. While Jared enjoyed learning to wield magic more than anything else, at the same time, he loathed the far-too-much-like-school-for-his-liking that inevitably preceded a new trick, or spell.

Other times Jared would make good on his side of the bargain. In addition to room and board, he had promised the faerie girl instruction on humans. Often he would find his own knowledge lacking. These were the times when his family would stare at him, wide-eyed, before turning to each other in confusion when they saw him walk into the kitchen for dinner holding a text-book on _History of the Middle Ages_, or _Cultures of the East Asian Peoples_, or even _What's Hot and What's Not: Fashions of the 1990s_. Jared quickly realized he had been living in an isolated bubble his whole life. Humanity was so much more than the lives he, his brother, his sister, and his mother led.

The only problem with that part of his study came when Brana questioned him about music. Convinced that he had to do a decent job of explaining, in order to "pay back" for everything the faerie had taught him, he quickly borrowed as many CDs from the kids at school as he could, in addition to borrowing several books from the library on music. While reading about Mozart, Chopin, and even Elvis did not bother anyone (aside from the fact that it was still just _odd_ to see Jared studying like this) he quickly discovered that the rest of his family did not approve of the music his friends listened to. He just could not understand what exactly his sister found so offensive about T.I., why his brother said KoRn hurt his ears, or why his mother just about went ballistic when she heard Marilyn Manson on her son's computer.

He also found that it was difficult to explain away these strange occurrences without giving away the fact that he was hiding a humanoid faerie girl in the attic, and was teaching her about humans in exchange for magic lessons. Yes, that would certainly go over well with his mother…

After breakfast, Jared would join his brother and sister on the walk to the bus stop. School was boring and pointless, as far as Jared was willing to think. His grades stopped plummeting, as a result of his recent interest in the world (human and otherwise) around him, but he certainly did not put in enough effort to raise them up to his brother's standards.

After school, so long as he did not receive detention and delay the "Get Home ASAP" plan, he found himself rushing to finish whatever chores his mother laid out for him. He did, after all, have more than one deal to make good on.

Finally, after what seemed to the faerie-obsessed boy, he was able to make it outside, where his faerie house-guest would join him. Here they would explore the Fantastical Realm, and practice the practical application of whatever they had discussed in the attic. Most often, and to Jared's delight, this meant magic practice, like today.

"That's it," she whispered encouragingly. "Just keep it steady, Jared, you've almost got it."

Jared struggled, his exertion evident by his shaking hands, held up in the empty air in front of him as if braced by a solid object, and by the sweat beading at his brow.

The faerie girl lounged against a tree beside her human student, watching him, and the line of lichen before him. It had taken him quite some time, but he was finally ready to complete a second barrier around the Spiderwick mansion; his ultimate goal from the beginning.

This barrier they had extended quite far, about a quarter mile radius around the house. With the help of some sprites, Jared and Brana had managed to grow the magically fortified ring of lichen that now surrounded the house. While not the strongest medium, both faerie and human had agreed that it needed to be as unobtrusive as possible, and nothing but a small groundcover like this would do. The plant ring was useless, however, until Jared placed the barrier on it.

Brana squinted her eyes and saw the power lines between Jared and the lichen begin to fluctuate. This aspect of the Sight had taken Jared weeks to master. While the hobgoblin spit had given him the power to see creatures of the Fantastical Realm, he had to learn to _look_, to find the magic of the Realm, just as he had to learn to _listen_ to hear his companion's heartbeat.

"You're almost there!" she whispered to him, urgently.

It was important that Jared be the one to form the barrier. She would not be around forever, and while it was good practice, it was also important that the barrier be attuned to him, so that he could manage it and maintain it, opening it when he wanted, and closing it just as quickly.

She heard and saw Jared breathe out quickly, a short cough of power that exhaled a rush of silvery-gold material from his palms that only he and Brana could see. The lichen began to glow for a second, before a bass-heavy shudder passed through the ground, and a silvery wall of light raced up towards the sky, before fading back once again to the unsuspecting-looking lichen.

Jared smiled tiredly, lowering his hands back to his sides.

"I did it," he smiled tiredly, before his eyelids closed and his short structure began to sag. Brana moved with all the grace and speed her unnatural form allowed her to catch the exhausted boy.

"No sparring practice today, huh?" he whispered, leaning back against his teacher's chest.

The faerie smiled, her deadly inscisors revealed as she looked down at her student, smoothing the sweat-soaked hair back from his face.

"No, I do not believe so," she laughed.

Sparring was another activity they had begun to work on.

When Jared decided he had had enough of school one day, and quickly left before any of the teachers could notice his hasty departure, he had found his house-mate in a large field nearby the stream which housed the river troll.

He expected her to be meditating, or "cleansing her aura," one aspect of magic he just could not comprehend; a state in which he often found his mentor. Instead, he found her with a long silver blade in her hand, executing a series of complex stances, parries, forms, and attacks.

Jared had never seen any girl with a sword who was better than Mallory…until he saw a faerie practice swordsmanship. After he begged her to teach him, she agreed, explaining that magic was a perfect combination of mind, body, and soul; the mind being the mental control of the power, the body being the physical prowess needed to harness it, and soul being the core house within each living being from which magic was drawn.

Laying in Brana's arms, looking at the barely visible magical fibers making up the powerful force field in front of him, he was glad she insisted sword play involved being physically capable. Many complaint-ridden sessions of exercise and drills had to be completed before she would even let him pick up a stick to practice. Now, however, he knew his body would never have been able to withstand what he had just put it through with the rough conditioning the faerie had made him endure.

And even with his mother avoiding him, him avoiding his brother, and his sister never at home, Jared found himself to be happier than he had been in a long time. Possibly the happiest he had been since his father left them.

With that thought, he peacefully slipped into unconsciousness in the arms of the deadly faerie assassin who had become more of a mentor, teacher, and sister to him than any teacher at school, his own sister, and even his mother.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **Hope you liked it. I know it was a bit boring, but I had to do a bit of a time skip...the fic would just be too long otherwise! Things will begin to pick up again soon, I promise!_

_Please read and review! Even a two-word review, like "Good job" or "I Hate It" is better than nothing! Readers are my muse to continue! XOXOXO to all my reviewers! Plus, check out NeevyG 's Spiderwick Role Play on her forum: h t t p: / / w w w . fan fiction . net / forum / The _ Roleplay _ Chat _ World / 59210 / take out those spaces and pasate in your browser. _


	18. The Way They See It

_**Author's Note: **I'm so sorry it's been so long! My only excuse is that I've been on vacation for three weeks (meaning no computer) and just started a new job before that. I hope this small offering of an update will be one of many to come. I really am getting to the climax in the story, so it should come to a close quite soon. Disclaimer: I disclaim Spiderwick. _

* * *

**Title: THE NEXT STEP**

**Author: pelori**

**CH. 18: THE WAY THEY SEE IT**

White Bite was not having a good day. In fact, he was not having a good six months! His brilliant plan to take out the faerie girl while she was unawares had failed more spectacularly than he could have imagined. Not only had the faerie with the magnificent teeth escaped unscathed, with knowledge of the attack, she had been driven to join forces with the human who was responsible for the fall of Mulgarath. Both of his enemies were now stronger working together, his troops were losing moral, and his head was pounding from when he ran into that infernal barrier that sprang up out of nowhere.

It just wasn't fair! The girl was far too dangerous to approach unless her guard was down, and that just did not seem to be happening any time soon. She hardly left the barrier unless she was hunting, during which time, the goblins found, they were more likely to be the prey than the hunters; sparring, which spoke for itself in terms of danger; or spending time with the human. Naturally, White Bite decided that this was by far the best time to attack.

The utter disasters these attacks became led to the current overall feeling of failure amongst White Bite and his troops. The girl seemed more on edge than ever when the human was with her, as though she wanted to protect him. Of course, the human boy, the Jared, was not a piece of cake to deal with either. Her training had made sure of that. While White Bite was convinced that the humans had defeated Mulgarath on luck alone, the fanged faerie was making sure the human was more than prepared for the next encounter. She was even teaching him faerie magic! Even the silf refused to meddle, now that the foreigner was involved.

A direct attack on either of them would never work, and they were too well protected within the barrier. Only an indirect approach had any hope of success. The question was, where to strike?

White Bite flared his considerable nostrils as the succulent smell of roasting rat reached him. That other human did not guard his pets with as much skill as the Jared guarded himself and his fanged companion. In fact, the rest of the human family were quite weak in faerie magic, and even in physical abilities. And the family was close. Close enough that when the Not-Jared was captured by Mulgarath, the Jared risked his life to try to save him.

A plan began to form in White Bite's devious mind.

* * *

Simon was so _tired_! He never imagined that a bird walk would take that much out of him! Granted, he had helped design the birdwalk, and helped to write up the guides, but still! He was exhausted! Maybe if he just rested his eyes for a little bit…

"Mom," Mallory said quietly, "I think Simon's fallen asleep."

"I'm sure he has!" Helen replied, smiling. "He and his friends have worked hard this past month to prepare the bird walk for the community center. This was the first day it was held, and he worked far too hard to ensure that it went smoothly."

Helen Grace reached one hand behind her, keeping the other on the steering wheel, as she ruffled her sleeping son's hair.

"I'm so proud of him," she continued. "He finally seems to be making friends at school—"

"Now that the school year is just about over," the oldest Grace interjected.

Helen continued as though her daughter had not spoken. "And now he's doing all this community service. Do you think he would have had an opportunity to do so much in the community if we were still living in New York? I don't think so! The people here are just much _closer_. We've all had such a great chance to get to know people this past year!"

"Okay, what's up?" Mallory asked, monotone.

"What?" Helen feigned ignorance.

"You're acting _way _too happy. It's like you're trying to convince yourself we did the right thing by moving here."

"Of course we did the right thing!" Helen bit back, defensive. "You and your brother have both made good friends here, and have learned about living in a small town, and we have a whole house to ourselves, and we're away from your dad…it's a whole new life for us!"

"What about Jared?" Mallory asked, quietly.

"What about him?" Helen practically sniffed.

"What about him? Mom! I feel like both of you are hiding something from me! I'm still not allowed to stay out past midnight, and he'll go all night without coming home, and you just don't care! He's always wearing black these days, and he's always getting in trouble at school! He even came home with _blood_ all over him last week! _And you didn't even ask him what happened!_"

Helen just frowned while her daughter ranted.

"_I'm_ worried about him, and I'm just his _sister_. What's going on, Mom?"

Helen took a deep breath.

"I don't really know, honey." Mallory continued to stare at her mother in disbelief.

"It has to do with faeries. That's all I really _want _to know. I…" Helen paused. "I know it sounds strange, but…I trust him to make the right choices."

As they approached a red light, Helen turned, and looked hard at Mallory. "I love him just as much as I do you and Simon, but at some point, honey," she said, stroking her daughter's hair, trying to explain, "I just had to let him go, and trust that he is going to be all right. I trust that he has a good head on his shoulders."

"He's _thirteen_, Mom! You sound like you're sending him off into the world, but he's just _thirteen_!"

"Oh, honey…" Helen smiled sadly at her daughter.

But then the light turned green, and both mother and daughter turned their faces forward again, losing the moment.

"Someday you'll understand," she said.

Mallory just hmphed and turned her head towards the side window, away from her mother.

"And they'll both be fourteen next month," Helen finished lamely.

Mallory continued watching the sidewalk and the trees fly by her window as she decided that she would be taking her younger brother's welfare into her own hands. Even if that meant stalking him all day to find out where he went all the time…


	19. Sparring

**Title: THE NEXT STEP**

**Author: pelori**

**CH. 19: SPARRING**

Brana, the faerie envoy, sat lounging under one of the tallest oaks in the forest. She had a great deal to think about, in terms of her mission, and her deal with the human.

Jared really was making considerable progress. He was casting like a sorcerer twice his years, and fighting like a trained soldier of The Legion. Just yesterday he managed to dispatch almost ten goblins before she was able to realize what he was doing and tell him that it was too dangerous. When she left, the faeries of this region would certainly be in good hands, albeit human hands—

"What's 'The Legion?'"

Brana jumped and whipped her sword out of her sheath, pointing it at the throat of her student and friend.

"Jared!" She breathed. "Do not surprise me like that!"

She slipped the long blade back into its leather case.

"Sorry," Jared quipped, not sounding sorry at all, as he swung down from the tree branch above his mentor.

He grabbed two apples out of the bag swung around his shoulder. He threw the first to Brana, before leaning back against the selfsame tree the faerie had claimed, and taking a bite out of the second.

"So what's 'The Legion?'" he asked again.

"You should know better than to eavesdrop on the thoughts of another," she admonished, as she wiped the apple off on her cloak, and then plunged her long fangs into its fleshy center.

"But you were just thinking so _loud_," he said petulantly, adjusting the leather collar he was sporting today to cover up the very scar given to him by the girl who's company he now shared.

Brana turned to glare at the young human.

Jared paused, just before taking a rather large bite out of his apple.

He made a rather remarkable face then, a combination of guilty, playful, and challenging.

"Okay, so I _may _have been trying to listen in…"

Brana raised her left eyebrow in response.

"Well, _maybe _I've been trying for _weeks _now to hear your thoughts…but you have to admit, that means I've gotten pretty good at telepathy!" He said, morphing his expression into a large smile and hopeful eyes.

The faerie girl took another bite out of her apple. Jared's eyes shifted to the fruit, before growing wide with surprise.

_She's as good at the guilt thing as Mom! She glared, and I caved, all while she was finishing her apple!_

"Of course I am 'as good at the guilt thing' as your mother," she paused. "We both have to put up with you."

Jared laughed, and finished off his apple.

"I guess turnabout's fair play, then?" he quipped.

The faerie just turned up the corners of her mouth in response, baring her snow white fangs.

"Fine then," Jared stated, getting to his feet. "Shall we discuss it over a spar, then?" He asked, in an accent rather like Brana's, while giving a mock bow.

The girl simply pulled out her blade, and bowed in response, before touching the tip of her blade to the one Jared had pulled from his own sheath, and now held before him.

"En garde," She laughed, striking an extravagant pose.

The glade rang with the sounds of their clashing steel.

"And while we're discussing things," Jared panted, trying to continue their earlier conversation, "Why don't you go ahead and tell me what 'The Legion' is?"

"Only if you manage to draw blood before I disarm you," she replied, her breathing still steady.

"What?" Jared gasped out. "You goin' easy on me now?"

They both grinned at the friendly banter exchange.

"Hardly," She sniped back. "I am simply giving you a well deserved handicap."

"Handicap?!"

"But of course!" She parried a quick blow of Jared's before thrusting forward, causing him to block and subsequently lose ground. Their blades became locked between them as she drew close to his face.

"You would never stand a chance if you simply had to beat me!"

She bared her fangs in a feral grin before pushing back on her opponent, bring her sword back in front to block as Jared made a low cut at her legs.

He merely grinned at her as they both took a step back, holding their blade towards each other, in a moment's calm before the storm.

"We'll see!" was all he said before he jumped forward to meet her outstretched sword.

* * *

"Simon, honey?" Helen Grace called from the foyer. "Simon?"

"Here, Mom," he called, as he shuffled down the stairs, carrying his most recently adopted pet: a flying squirrel he had rescued after it fell from a tree. "What do you need?"

"Have you seen your sister Mallory?"

Simon just shook his head no.

"I haven't seen her since we got off the bus after school.

Helen sighed.

"Since today was your last day of school, I was going to take all of you out for ice cream…or something."

Helen's gaze went past the front door, kitchen opening, and window before coming to rest, rather lost-looking, once again on her son.

"You know…"she continued, "like we used to do, back in New York,"

_Back with your Dad_, went unsaid.

"But Jared, as usual, isn't home, and now Mallory's disappeared too!" Helen wrung her hands in an absent-minded sort of way, glancing once more towards the front door.

"I'm sure they'll turn up, Mom," Simon supplied, trying to be helpful. "Jared's always home for dinner, and I'm sure Mallory's just out with some friends." He paused. "You know…she does that sometimes…"

Simon's mother sighed once more, before reaching forward and hugging her son.

"Mom—" Simon's muffled voice questioned against Helen's shoulder. "Whaph's thaph ffor?"

"I just…" she sobbed out.

"Oh Mom," Simon lifted his head. "Don't cry! We're still a family," he tried to reassure her, guessing at the root of the problem. "We're just busier nowadays. Don't worry. When Jared and Mallory get home tonight, we'll have a big family game night…or something, okay?"

Helen just sniffled, while Simon rubbed circles on her back, comforting his mother.

"In the meantime, you can take me for some ice cream, alright?"

Simon would always be the first to say that he was a pacifist, but it was moments like this, where his mother was crying on his shoulder, that he really wanted to strangle his brother and sister.

* * *

With every step she took, Mallory grew more and more enraged with her brother. With her newfound promise to herself to stalk Jared to see what he was up to weighing on her mind, when she saw Jared hop off the bus a few stops too early, she muscled her way to the front to jump off too. Unfortunately, because she was watching Jared more than she was the steps in front of her, she managed to fall down the bus stairs and land in a sopping wet puddle in the gutter below.

In an attempt to regain a least some of her pride, she quickly picked herself up, gathered her belongings, and took off at a fast trot in pursuit of the rapidly diminishing form of her brother.

Yesterday, when she had made this momentous agreement to herself, she thought it would be difficult to stay far enough behind the trouble-maker that he would not be suspicious of her presence. Now, it seemed, she had worried for nothing. She could barely manage to keep him in her sights, let alone get close enough to alert him to her presence.

First, she followed him to a convenience store, where he bought some fruit and two candy bars.

_Weird,_ she thought to herself. _I didn't know Jared ate fruit _voluntarily_!_

Next, she followed him through the outskirts of town, through a park where she was attacked by pigeons, and into the forest.

She thought she had lost him for a second, when he first ventured into the woods, but then he suddenly reappeared in front of her line of sight, carrying a long blade, encased in a black leather sheath.

_That had _better not _be one of my swords! _She thought angrily to herself, as she mentally prepared for another strenuous jaunt, as her brother continued in front of her.

At one point, she did lose him.

For about ten minutes, she wandered aimlessly in the forest.

She did not know quite where she was, other than the fact that they were deep in the heart of the forest filled with creatures of the Fantastical Realm.

_I knew it! _She crowed excitedly to herself. _I knew it had something to do with faeries! If he's somewhere in these woods, it's just _got _to have something to do with faeries. _

Just when she was prepared to give up, and drag her cold, tired, and wet self all the way back to the Spiderwick mansion, she heard a sound that most definitely did not belong with the forest around her.

"What?" she questioned aloud, as she turned towards the sound.

"A swordfight? Wha—Jared!" She concluded. "But who would he be fighting _with_?"

She sighed in resignation before beginning to traipse through the forest yet again; this time, with an obvious goal in mind.

Her thoughts of_, "He'd better not have dragged Simon all the way out here for a stupid spar!"_ certainly did not prepare her for what she found in that wood…


	20. Irony

**Title: THE NEXT STEP**

**Author: pelori**

**CH. 20: IRONY**

Iro-ny

Pronunciation: \ ī-rə-nē

n.(1) incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) incongruity between a situation developed in a drama that is understood by the audience but not by the characters.

White Bite and his crew had finally suffered some stroke of luck. This fortuitous event came in the form a the eldest Grace child. After days of watching, planning, and waiting, one of the anticipated targets, namely the girl-child, was wandering through _their _forest, _alone_. Or at least, she was alone enough to accomplish their task.

First, White Bite had thought that the easiest target had been the not-Jared, the look-alike boy. After, Red Cap and his goons had managed the feat, so it certainly could not be _hard_. They even thought that they had him today at the nature thing. It was the perfect opportunity! But White Bite had not anticipated all the humans. They could not simply drag off the boy without the other humans becoming meddlesome. After all, even though the goblins were invisible to most human eyes, the boy would not be.

The day, it seemed, was now not a total waste of time after all. The girl would be the target. It was as if she _wanted _them to capture her, she was making it so easy.

She had, it seemed, been following her brother, the dangerous one, who had been tracking the fanged faerie-girl. All of this tracking and following made it easy for the goblin gang to tail the girl. After all, each party was so concerned with tracking their own quarry, and staying hidden, they never noticed that they themselves were being pursued.

The girl would never know what hit her, so to speak.

* * *

Just when she was prepared to give up, and drag her cold, tired, and wet self all the way back to the Spiderwick mansion, she heard a sound that most definitely did not belong with the forest around her.

"What?" she questioned aloud, as she turned towards the sound.

"A swordfight? Wha—Jared!" She concluded. "But who would he be fighting _with_?"

She sighed in resignation before beginning to traipse through the forest yet again; this time, with an obvious goal in mind.

Her thoughts of_, "He'd better not have dragged Simon all the way out here for a stupid spar!"_ certainly did not prepare her for what she found in that wood…

She pushed aside the last branch obscuring her view of the clearing, opening her mouth to thoroughly chastise her brother, when she caught sight of the two figures dancing into her view.

"What?" Mallory her Jared rasp out. "You goin' easy on me now?"

They both grinned in a truly horrifying way. The girl had _fangs_! And Jared was handling his sword in ways she had never before thought possible from her younger, angst-ridden sibling.

"Hardly," She the tall _creature_ growled back. "I am simply giving you a well deserved handicap."

"Handicap?!"

"But of course!" She parried a quick blow of Jared's before thrusting forward, causing him to block and subsequently lose ground. Their blades became locked between them as she drew close to his face.

They moved so fast, Mallory could hardly tell what they were doing! What form was that they just used? How did the tall one know Jared was going for a forward thrust? The eldest Grace had not even seen him shift into position!

"You would never stand a chance if you simply had to beat me!"

The creature bared her fangs in a feral grimace before pushing back on her opponent, bring her sword back in front to block as Jared made a low cut at her legs.

They were not even using blunt practice swords. Either of them could end up seriously injured!

He merely grinned at her as they both took a step back, holding their blade towards each other, in a moment's calm before the storm.

"We'll see!" was all he said before he jumped forward to meet her outstretched sword.

Mallory tensed, preparing to step out into the clearing and confront her brother and this creature, and demand exactly _what was going on, _when a repulsive-smelling cloth was shoved against her nose and mouth.

In surprise, her first action, in addition to stumbling backwards as a result of the heavy pressure that had just come to pull against her arms and shirt, was to take a deep breath in surprise. It was the last sensation she felt before the heavy substance seemed to clog her nose and head, blocking out all sight and sound, until she just faded into blackness.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **I know this chapter's short, but the cliffie was just too perfect! _

_I hope to have another chapter up next week. We're getting to the end here, so there aren't too many more chapters to go!_

_Reviews are love!_


	21. Simon's Disapproval

_**Author's Note: **So so so so sorry for the delay between updates!! So I won't delay anymore by blabbering on in author's notes, but THANKS for all the reivews! ...and I don't own Spiderwick..._

* * *

**Title: THE NEXT STEP**

**Author: pelori**

**CH. 21: Simon's Disapproval**

While White Bite had, in his many years of observing Red Cap's failures, become convinced that he would not make the same mistakes as his predecessor. Red Cap was a poor leader, and led his troop of goblins into disaster and tomato-ridden death. White Bite, however, had a plan. He had the girl, the tall human who knew how to use swords, and through her, he could get at the Boy-Who-Read-the-Book, and through him, the goblins could take out the foreigner.

But his plan didn't stop there. Red Cap had the right idea in capturing the human boy, but Red Cap didn't think things through. He didn't have White Bites's intelligence. White Bite knew better than to leave his camp out in the open for anyone to see. After all, their enemies weren't just blind ignorant humans; they had the Sight.

Those of the Fantastical Realm could no longer rely on their invisibility to hide. No. White Bite knew better. _His _camp was in a gully, partially dug out by his own goblin troops, and covered by a netting camouflaged in leaves and earth. Even if a human managed to _find _his camp, his posted scouts would give warning _long_ before anyone could sneak up on them.

White Bite felt a warm glow of pride as his scouts show him at a distance and opened the hidden door to their secret camp. His goblins carrying the unconscious girl were allowed to pass first. Though a few months ago when the camp was first built, White Bite didn't know which human he would manage to catch first, he had ordered the construction of a human-sized cage nonetheless; just to prepare for future possibilities.

He felt his grain stretch over his stolen teeth as he watched his goblins maneuver the bound and unconscious human into her new prison.

"We done good boss?" One of his goblins ran up to him and asked.

"Yesss," White Bite hissed. "We all done good this time."

"So, what we do now, boss?" the underling continued.

White Bite, grin still displaying his mismatched incisors, turned slowly to face the human's cage.

"Now we wait. We wait, and take down the Jared and the foreigner! We destroy them like they destroyed so many of our brothers!"

As the goblin leader laughed to himself over his thoughts of revenge, a chorus of raucous cackling rose up as his surrounding goblin troops joined in, creating a raking sound of garish goblin mirth.

* * *

The sun was setting before Jared finally lowered his sword in admitted defeat. His sparring companion grinned, revealing her elongated canines.

"Finished?" She asked, collecting the weapons strewn about the field.

"Hn." Jared grunted back, wiping the sweat-soaked bangs out of his eyes.

"Think you can make it back to the house?" the faerie asked, grinning.

"Ah' be fine—" he muttered, before sagging against the nearest tree.

"Right then," the girl declared, strapping their gear on her back. "Let's get you back home."

The tall faerie looped one arm around her pupil's shoulders, supporting him as they made their way through the forest to the Spiderwick mansion.

* * *

Simon sighed in both annoyance and disappointment as he climbed the stairs to the room he shared with his brother.

Not only had neither of his siblings shown up in time to accompany himself and their mother on the ice cream trip (meaning he had to deal with a very depressed Helen Grace all by himself the whole time) but their absence continued all through the rather extravagant dinner his mother had planned for them all to share together.

Simon appreciated what his mother was trying to do, but they weren't kids anymore! The family get-togethers had stopped being a part of their lives long before their parents decided to divorce.

And then there was Jared and Mallory! Jared was just a mess these days, so his delinquent absence was understandable, if not condonable, but Mallory? Sure, she was often busy with the "popular" crowd at school, but it wasn't like her to not even call!

Simon stomped into his room, his internal tirade interrupted only by the grunt of disapproval and the movement of blankets on his brother's bed when he flipped on the light switch to their shared room.

"Jared?!"

"Wha?" was the muffled reply.

"What are you doing?"

"'M tryin' to sleep," the older brother said, pulled the comforter further over his face, to block out the light.

"You get back in time to sleep, but not in time to eat Mom's dinner?!" Simon asked incredulously.

But his question went unanswered, as the exhausted Jared fell back asleep. Brana had, courtesy of her faerie-gifted physical prowess, brought Jared into the house via the attic window, and then left it up to the human to get himself down to his own bed. By the time Jared had walked down the stairs, undressed, and found his bed, he was zombie-like in his sleep-directed movements.

Simon's abrupt entrance into his room was not enough to keep him in a conscious state, and Jared quickly and easily fell back into unconsciousness.

"Jared?" Simon asked, poking the lump that was his brother. "Ja—red…" Simon pulled back. "Unbelievable," he said to himself, as he went through his own motions of preparing for bed. "I'll just have to have a _long _talk with him and Mallory tomorrow…"

* * *

Mallory, thanks to the goblin-concocted version of chloroform that had been shoved in her face, wasn't aware of her own surroundings, and thus had little to do with the family gathering fiasco with which her youngest brother was so concerned, but would be facing a crisis all her own in the coming hours, as she realized what had happened, and just how far Jared was getting into the intrigues of the Fantastical Realm...

* * *

_**Author's Note: **Pelori here...thanks for all the lovely reviews of last chapter; I know I've done all you wonderful readers a disservice by putting the update off this long, but maybe you'll review anyway? Critiques welcome!_


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